New Jersey Congressman Tom MacArthur (NJ 3rd-District - R) watched the passage of his bill on Thursday which extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through Friday, December 7, giving Congress additional time to find a long-term solution.

Without the bill, MacArthur said the NFIP would lapse tonight at midnight.

"Since day one, I've said I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the National Flood Insurance Program does not lapse and that South Jersey residents are protected from another Superstorm Sandy. Today is no different. Against the wishes of my own chairman and leaders in our party, I finalized this bill three minutes before we officially closed our Washington, D.C. office; a lame duck Congress will not stop me from fighting for what's best for Burlington and Ocean Counties," MacArthur said. "I've been in Congress for four years, and while one-week extensions demonstrate our broken legislative process, this was a necessary action for the millions of NFIP policyholders. If we allowed a lapse, South Jerseyans would be left unprotected from another storm and coastal home-buyers would not be able to obtain a mortgage. I'm committed to seeing this through and will work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make needed reforms to the NFIP-140 million Americans living in coastal counties depend on it."

The National Flood Insurance Program has been one of the focal points of MacArthur's terms in office which is in its final days.

In January of 2017, for the 115th session MacArthur took a seat on the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the Federal Reserve Board, the banking system and individual banks, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Treasury Department, minting and distribution of currency, and the Export-Import Bank.

Right from the start he made an impact.

"The National Flood Program is about to have the rug pulled out from under it," MacArthur told WOBM News in January of 2017. "That will devastate home-ownership in coastal New Jersey."

He added that he had already spoken to the opposition on this issue, "and explained to them that there are communities that depend on a federal backstop for floods."

His NFIP mission continued into last summer where he inserted a series of provisions to the program.

More From Beach Radio