Date: 2014-12-10
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

I thank the ranking member for her leadership and for yielding and for her hard work on this important bill. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 2244. which is critically important to the economy and national security of the city I am privileged to represent. New York. and to our Nation at large. After the terrible attacks on 9111. insurers realized that they could not accurately model for terrorism riskit was simply too unpredictable. and the market for terrorism insurance completely dried up. No one could get insured. Businesses stopped. The only place we could get insured was Lloyds of London. and we lost thousands of jobs and our economy came to a standstill. In response. Congress came together. united and determined. and. in a bipartisan way. passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. or TRIA. which provides a government backstop for terrorism insurance. The goal of TRIA was to make terrorism insurance affordable and available. and that is exactly what it has done. This has come at no cost whatsoever to the American taxpayer. This bill represents a true bipartisan compromise. and I commend the gentlemen from Texas. Chairmen HENSARLING and NEUGEBAUER. for working with my colleagues. Senator SCHUMER and Ranking Member WATERS. to reach a deal on TRIA. Initially. the House TRIA bill raised the trigger for the government backstop by a whopping 500 percent. from $100 million to $500 million. This would have forced many small- and mediumsized insurers out of the market entirely and would have actually decreased the amount of terrorism insurance available in our country. Fortunately. this compromise bill only raises the trigger for the government backstop from $100 million to $200 million. This modest increase will ensure that small- and mediumsized insurers are not forced out of the market. while also protecting taxpayers. I fully and completely support this compromise. Importantly. however. the compromise does not include the socalled "bifurcation" proposal. which would have treated nuclear. biological. chemical. and radiological attacks differently from the socalled "conventional" terrorism attacks. This made no sense whatsoever. and this compromise sensibly drops the proposal entirely. Finally. I am pleased that this bill reauthorizes TRIA for a full 6 years. This will provide muchneeded certainty to businesses across our country as they expand and create jobs. This compromise will ensure that terrorism insurance remains widely affordable and available. This has always been the underlying purpose of TRIA. and I believe that this bill accomplishes that goal. I would like to commend the gentlemen from Texas. Chairman HENSARLING and Chairman NEUGEBAUER. for recognizing that a longterm reauthorization of TRIA is incredibly important for our economy. I thank my good friend from New York. PETER KING. He has been a tireless advocate for TRIA. and without his hard work on this bill. we wouldnt be voting on this compromise today. And I thank the gentlewoman from California. Ranking Member WATERS. for working with me on this bill. I would like to particularly thank my colleague from New York. Senator SCHUMER. for his excellent work in negotiating this compromise. I urge my colleagues to support this bill because it is the right thing to do for America.