Jean Mikle, and Russ Zimmer

Asbury Park Press

Flood insurance policyholders, including the 231,000 in New Jersey, could be hit with a surcharge to help loosen up federal funds to pay for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico, according to budget documents detailed in reports by The Washington Post and Politico.

Neither story indicates what the extra charge would be and the Asbury Park Press has not reviewed the draft budget plan for the Department of Homeland Security. The plan, prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, has not yet been publicly released.

The Post report adds "the (Office of Management and Budget) has been asked to come up with a plan to limit the extra payment for homeowners with 'lower-value' homes."

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, blasted the surcharge proposal, along with other cuts proposed in the draft plan, including slashing the budgets of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. Trump's budget proposal is expected to be released later this month.

Throughout his campaign for the White House, Trump said Mexico would pay for the border wall.

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“President Trump now wants to pay for his giant wall on the backs of New Jersey storm victims and other homeowners who pay flood insurance, coupled with deep cuts to national security assets and disaster preparedness that would only weaken — not strengthen — our nation’s security," Menendez said in an email. "I have never seen such a wildly misguided set of priorities and I will do everything in my power to stop it."

Toms River resident George Kasimos, who founded the flood insurance advocacy group Stop FEMA Now, said the cost of the wall should "be spread out across all U.S. citizens equally."

"The flood insurance premiums are skyrocketing before another surcharge is added," Kasimos said. "By just adding a surcharge on flood policy holders is disproportionally forcing flood policy holders to pick up more of the cost. Flood insurance is beyond affordable as it is."

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Flood insurance rates rose by an average of about 9 percent in 2016, and are slated to go up an additional 6 percent in 2017, according to FEMA. That does not include surcharges and fees.

FEMA says the average policy holder will pay about $878 for flood insurance in 2017, for an average increase of 6.3 percent. When surcharges and fees are included, the average flood insurance policy costs $1,005.

"It is outrageous that President Trump would rifle through the pockets of Sandy survivors who can barely afford to stay in their own homes to pay for a wall along the Mexican border," Menendez said.

"It should now be clear to everyone that Mexico will not be paying for Trump’s wall, but instead hardworking middle class Americans, and at the expense of our Coast Guard and airport security. It would be laughable if it weren’t so horrible.”

U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-Ocean, could not be reached for comment on the flood insurance surcharge proposal Wednesday. MacArthur, a former insurance executive, was appointed to the House Financial Services Committee in January and has said he hopes to help reform the flood insurance program.

Under 2014's Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, flood insurance rates can rise by up to 18 percent a year for primary homeowners, and up to 25 percent a year for those who own vacation homes and rental properties.

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The rate increases were put in place because the National Flood Insurance Program is nearly $25 billion in debt. Congress must decide whether to reauthorize the flood insurance program by Sept. 30.

The stories in the Post and Politico breakdown how the Trump administration is considering cuts to the Coast Guard, the Transportation Safety Administration and FEMA, which underwrites almost all residential flood insurance in the U.S., in order to find more money within Homeland Security's budget to pay for a a 1,250-mile border wall with Mexico.

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The border wall and a crackdown on illegal immigration were cornerstones of Trump's campaign. "Build the wall" remains a regular refrain by his supporters at rallies.

Trump backed up the campaign bombast by signing an executive order in his first week on the job that directed the Customs and Border Patrol to "secure the southern border of the United States through the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border."

The questions then shifted to the cost and how to pay for it, as the Mexican government categorically rejected Trump's tag line on the wall — that Mexico would pay for it.

The latest official estimate has the border wall costing $21.6 billion, or almost twice the figure Trump had been publicly using.

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The Post reports the draft plan would represent a 10 percent budget cut to FEMA, which is a division of the Homeland Security department. In addition to requiring flood policyholders to pay more, the plan would reduce the money available to state and local governments for natural disaster planning and training.

Only four states have more policies than New Jersey, which had 231,017 in force at the end of 2016, according to figures from FEMA.

The proposed cuts will face serious pushback from some members of Congress.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican who represents the 2nd Congressional District in southern New Jersey, last week sharply criticized plans to cut Coast Guard funding.

"We cannot defend our homeland and continue critical security missions without the U.S. Coast Guard. It is as simple as that,” LoBiondo said in a prepared statement.

LoBiondo, a senior member of the House Coast Guard & Maritime Security Subcommittee, said he would fight any attempts to reduce funding for the Coast Guard's Air Station in Atlantic City or its training facility in Cape May.

"I will do everything in my power, rallying my colleagues in the New Jersey delegation and across Congress, to sink his misguided and dangerous plan," LoBiondo said.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com, Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050, jmikle@gannettnj.com