The National Flood Insurance Program’s authorization to write new policies will expire December 20, unless Congress acts to extend it.

An extension had been included in the Continuing Resolution that the House and Senate were poised to consider this week. That legislation would have funded many federal programs until March 14. However, after President-Elect Donald Trump and incoming administration officials objected to legislative riders attached to the resolution, that legislation appears to be dead in the House.

As a result, funding for much of the federal government—and parts of the NFIP– will expire on December 20.

If the authorization for parts of the NFIP is allowed to expire, (1) flood insurance contracts entered into before the expiration would continue until the end of their policy term of one year, (2) new policies could not be issued, and (3) the authority for the NFIP to borrow funds from the U.S. Treasury would be reduced from $30.425 billion to $1 billion. According to the Congressional Research Service, any expiration of the NFIP to issue new contracts would have serious consequences for the real estate market.

With past NFIP lapses, borrowers were not able to purchase flood insurance to close, renew or increase loans secured by property that required flood insurance. The CRS estimated that during a lapse in June 2010, each day more than 1,400 home sale closings were canceled or delayed. That represents more than 40,000 sales each month. In some cases private flood insurance may be an option, but it is not as available as insurance under the NFIP.

Congress has been unable to enact a long-term extension of parts of the NFIP, so it has included temporary authorization of the NFIP in short-term and end-of-year appropriations measures.