(Washington, DC) - U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Senior Member of the House Financial Services Committee, today praised the Senate Banking Committee’s renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), the federal government’s post 9/11 terrorism insurance program critical to rebuilding Ground Zero. Ackerman championed the program’s renewal in the House Financial Services Committee—which renewed the measure on August 1—and he helped win passage of TRIA’s extension in the full House which approved the bill on September 19.

“Passage of TRIA’s extension by the House last month was a great victory for New York and the nation” said Ackerman. “Today’s action by the Senate helps keep the momentum swinging. We are one step closer towards passage of a final bill that provides a long term extension for this vital program.” 

After the 9/11 attacks, many insurance companies eliminated terrorism insurance from their policies, judging the potential losses from a major terrorist attack to be too great to insure against. In response, Congress passed TRIA, which created an insurance backstop from the federal government to protect against catastrophic terrorism-related loses. The measure was extended for two years in 2005 and expires at the end of this year.

Although the Senate bill extends TRIA for seven years—shorter than the 15 years approved by the House—and does not contain the “reset language” which lowers trigger levels and deductibles for insured losses exceeding $1 billion, Ackerman is hopeful that the differences will be worked-out in conference committee. The 15-year extension and the reset language were items authored by Ackerman. 

Other provisions not in the Senate measure include the addition of group life insurance coverage and mandating nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological attack coverage.

“Failure to extend TRIA would be an absolute disaster because without terrorism insurance, financial institutions will not lend money and developers at Ground Zero and other major sites will simply not be able to rebuild” added Ackerman. “Failure to rebuild at the former World Trade Center site, or any other spot attacked by terrorists, due to a lack of available insurance would represent another victory for the despicable terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.” 

Renewing TRIA was the subject of a Congressional hearing held at City Hall in New York City this past March. The Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises heard testimony in support of TRIA’s extension from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and a panel of leading developers, insurers, reinsurers and real estate investors. The hearing was chaired by Ackerman, who substituted for Chairman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA).

###

Return to Gary's Homepage