In the end, things went smoothly. But getting to that point inthe renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) proved to bevery difficult.

On Jan. 12, President Barack Obama signed bipartisan legislationthat extended TRIA for six years and made a few changes in program.Days earlier, both chambers of the new 114^th Congresshad passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Actof 2015 (H.R. 26) by nearly unanimous votes: 93-4 in the Senate and416-5 in the House.

In an era of increasing political paralysis, lopsided votes likethat are way beyond bipartisan—they are nothing short ofmiraculous.

Overcoming Obstacles
So why, then, didreauthorization of TRIA take more than a year? There are manyreasons, but the most important is rooted in the way that Congressoperates and how power is distributed among lawmakers. The chairmenof key committees wield enormous power; they have the ability toset agendas, frame debates and push their own bills. In the Senate,each individual senator can place a hold on bills. This allows anysenator to halt a bill's progress. During 2014, both dynamics cameinto play to delay TRIA reauthorization, despite broad bipartisansupport.

In the House, Financial Services Committee chairman JebHensarling (R-Teaxs) wanted to scale TRIA back more, and put it ona path toward being phased out. He came up with his own bill thatwould do that and passed it out of his committee. The only problemwas that Rep. Hensarling's bill lacked the votes to pass out of thefull House. As a result, the House leadership would not schedule afloor vote on it.

The Senate had already passed a mostly straightforwardseven-year TRIA reauthorization (ironically, by the same 93-4 votethat it would pass a six-year renewal seven months later, in thenew 114th Congress).

With the Senate firmly on board and Rep. Hensarling's billgetting no traction, negotiations began between the House andSenate, which resulted in a rare bipartisan agreement on a bill fora long-term reauthorization. This compromise provided for asix-year reauthorization, a slightly raised trigger level and otherminor tweaks to the law. Notably, it included a provisioncreating the National Association of Registered Agents andBrokers (NARAB), which was in both the Senate bill and Rep.Hensarling's legislation.

In December, the House passed the bipartisan compromise417-7—but then it hit a brick wall on the Senate side, in theperson of retiring Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn (R).

In the Marx Brothers' 1932 movie "Horse Feathers," Groucho Marxsang a song entitled, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It!" This couldhave been the theme song of Sen. Coburn, as he objected to numerousbills in the final days of his tenure. On TRIA, he would not beplacated. Coburn wanted an opt-out for states to join NARAB or anamendment that would sunset NARAB, requiring a reauthorizationafter two years.

The Oklahoma Republican also expressed a lack of concern forTRIA, saying at one point, "Quite frankly, I don't care whetherTRIA happens or not."

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attempted to bring thebill up for a vote, Coburn blocked it by objecting. Rather thanstaying in session for several additional days for complicatedprocedural maneuvers to overcome the objection, the Senate threw inthe towel, adjourned for the year and the bill died.

Success in New Congress
With a new yearcame the new 114^th Congress, which wasted no timeaccomplishing what the previous Congress failed to do.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the incoming RepublicanMajority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged quick action, andboth leaders came through on their promise. The Housepassed the same bill it had passed in December on January 7 by avote of 416-5, with NARAB included, and the Senate—withoutthe now-retired Senator Coburn—passed the bill 93-4 the next day.President Obama signed the bill on January 12 and it became lawJanuary 14.

Additional evidence of the continuing threat of terroristattacks came early on the morning of January 7—just before theHouse voted – when two masked gunmen armed with assault rifles andother weapons forced their way into the offices of the Frenchsatirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing12 people and injuring eleven others during their attack.Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen took responsibility.

Congress' inability to complete its work in December led to alapse in the terrorism insurance program for two weeks, duringwhich the world saw a vivid reminder that terrorism is still athreat.

Now that NARAB will become a reality, we must work together toensure that the startup process for the association goes smoothly.NARAB is intended to facilitate reciprocity in producer licensingwithout creating a new federal insurance bureaucracy. Therefore,PIA will work with our partners to ensure that the law creatingNARAB is properly implemented. An important part of this is toensure that the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) has nothing to dowith it, since it is statutorily prohibited from functioning in anyway as an insurance regulator.  

Prospects for the Future
Extension of theterrorism insurance program should have been a slam-dunk. But aswith anything that is truly worthwhile, it took a lot of hardwork.

A broad, nationwide coalition, of which PIA was a part, engagedin a coordinated advocacy campaign that lasted for more than ayear. This coalition extended far beyond the insurance industry toinclude businesses, state and local governments, non-profitorganizations and a host of other diverse groups.

This sustained, cooperative effort is what led to success. Whichraises a question: Can this forging of bipartisan consensus serveas a template for dealing with other insurance issues goingforward? Can this successful model for public private partnershipovercome congressional gridlock?

"The message is clear: America will remain insured against actsof terrorism," said PIA National Executive Vice President and CEOMike Becker, after H.R. 26 was signed. "The overwhelming votes inboth the House and the Senate demonstrate that when it comes toprotecting the citizens of the United States against terrorism,there is no partisanship on Capitol Hill."

It is a hopeful sign that at least on this issue, progressinstead of gridlock on Capitol Hill is an achievable goal. The ideathat members of Congress can put partisanship aside and do what'sgood for the American people is no longer unthinkable. It is abreakthrough that should be built upon.

Ted Besesparis is senior VP of communications for thePIA.