Homeowners struggling to afford insurance through the federal government are just one presidential signature away from getting help they desperately need.

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Thursday the Senate passed a bill to ease big flood insurance premium increases faced by hundreds of thousands of homeowners and allow below-market rates to be passed on to people buying homes with taxpayer-subsidized policies.

The bill significantly rewrites a major overhaul of the flood insurance program passed two years ago. The 2012 changes were aimed at weaning hundreds of thousands of homeowners off of subsidized rates and required extensive updating of flood maps used to set premiums.

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But the changes stirred anxiety among many homeowners along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in flood plains, many of whom are threatened with unaffordable rate increases.

Critics say Washington is caving in to political pressure to undo one of the few recent overhauls it has managed to pass.

The hard-fought 2012 rewrite of the federal flood insurance program was aimed at weaning hundreds of thousands of homeowners off of subsidized rates and required extensive updating of the flood maps used to set premiums. But its implementation stirred anxiety among many homeowners along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in flood plains, many of whom are threatened with unaffordable rate increases.

Their properties originally were built to code but subsequently were found to be at greater flood risk. Such "grandfathered" homeowners currently benefit from below-market rates that are subsidized by other policyholders, and the new legislation would preserve that status and cap premium increases at 18 percent a year. The 2012 overhaul required premiums to increase to actuarially sound rates over five years.

Another provision, eagerly sought by the real estate industry, would allow home sellers to pass taxpayer-subsidized policies on to the people buying their homes instead of requiring purchasers to pay actuarially sound rates immediately, as required by the 2012 law. The new rates are particularly high in older coastal communities in states like Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and have put a damper on home sales as prospective buyers recoil at the higher, multifold premium increases.

The measure also would give relief to people who have bought homes after the changes were enacted in July 2012 and therefore faced sharp, immediate jumps in their premiums; they would see those increases rolled back and receive rebates.

The bill passed the Senate on a 72-22 vote. The measure's next stop will be President Obama's desk.

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