Legislation that Congress passed to fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal year 2012 included aiuthorization  for the National Flood Insurance Program to keep writing new policies through May 31 of next year, and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is calling for longer action.

"NAR is urging Congress to use the additional time to complete work on a five-year NFIP re-authorization bill (H.R. 1309) to provide certainty and avoid further disruption to real estate markets," the group said in a "call to action" on its website.

The House of Representatives passed the bill last Friday to avoid a midnight shutdown of the government because earlier authorizations were running out. The Senate voted for it Saturday.

A few days earlier, the House had passed a five-year extension that included reforms that proponents said would cut the federal deficit by $4.5 billion over 10 years, the website propertycasualty360.com reported. That extension did not make it into the final spending bill worked out with the Senate.