WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins today urged the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Congressman Michael Oxley (R-OH) to swiftly produce a final Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) conference report by the end of the year that includes coverage of group life insurance.
TRIA was passed in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks to help the insurance industry offer coverage for catastrophic losses as a result of an act of terrorism. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed two-year TRIA extensions that now await negotiations to reconcile the two bills. The House bill included coverage of group life insurance, while the Senate bill did not.
Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE), Tom Carper (D-DE), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) joined Senators Snowe and Collins in sending the letter to Senator Shelby and Congressman Oxley today.
Below is the full text of the letter:
Dear Chairmen Shelby and Oxley:
We would like to commend your continued leadership and commitment to passing legislation that extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) (S.467).
TRIA brought stability to the financial markets after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and there are many sound policy-based reasons for extending the program beyond the end of this year, when it is set to expire. Furthermore, both chambers of Congress have improved the program with critical reforms to the federal backstop.
We strongly urge that a House and Senate conference quickly convene to produce a final TRIA conference report by the end of the year. Please note that it is our belief that the final TRIA conference report must include group life insurance as a covered line in the federal TRIA program.
Inclusion of group life insurance has been formally supported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and numerous associations representing insurance, policyholder, and consumer communities.
We stand ready to work with you and your staff on this request.