Democrat leaders in both the House and Senate are voicing strong support for prompt action on a permanent extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act when they take control of Congress next year. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said he does not favor further extension of the current program, which expires Dec. 31, 2007, preferring a longer-term solution.
"It's an issue we'd like to see if we can get something done early, if we go with some sort of a permanent proposal," said Mr. Dodd, whose state is home to many insurers. "I don't want to go through another extension."
And, in comments at a law firm seminar on the issue Wednesday, Todd Harper, a legislative assistant to Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who will chair the key Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee in the next Congress, voiced a similar opinion. Mr. Harper said the House would try to act sooner rather than later.
At the same event, sponsored by the law firm of Wiley, Rein and Fielding, along with the University of Connecticut Law School, Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., also a member of the House Financial Services Committee, agreed. He said an extension to the TRIA program or other long-term solution, the optional federal charter, and the issue of how to deal with catastrophic risk are all "high on the agenda" for the House Financial Services Committee in the 110th Congress.
At the press event, Sen. Dodd was joined by the current chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in saying that the panel would seek to work in bipartisan fashion to craft legislation.
"I will be working with him," Sen. Dodd said of Sen. Shelby at the briefing. "I think the voters last week said they wanted not only a change in direction, but a change in tone."
Both pointed out that they had worked together as Democrats in the House, and later in the Senate, before Sen. Shelby became a Republican.
In comments before the joint briefing, Sen. Dodd said he doubted that the defeat of Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Tenn., a senior Republican and a strong advocate for the insurance industry in Congress, would hurt the industry. "Industry constituents are national," Sen. Dodd said. "Insurance is an important piece of our marketplace–a critical element."
In general, the committee's activities will focus on improving "security and prosperity," Sen. Dodd said.
On another issue, Sen. Shelby said he would like to get prompt Senate action on legislation reforming the National Flood Insurance Plan in hopes final action on such legislation can be completed this year.
Sen. Shelby said that Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, and David Vitter, Republican, "have some problems with the bill," but added, "I would like to work it out, get it through the Senate and then into conference."
He continued, "We think we can get this done this year."
On the House side, Mr. Harper said that lawmakers would consider a number of possibilities for a permanent replacement for TRIA, including the proposed pooling concept.
Although the pool concept was abandoned in early discussions leading to TRIA, out of concerns that the proposed pool wouldn't be sufficiently funded in the short term, Mr. Harper noted that the circumstances would be very different today if it had been adopted.
"If we had gone with the pooling method, those pools would be significant today," he said. Any look at TRIA, he added, should also include a solution for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological risks.
On catastrophe issues, Mr. Harper said the Financial Services Committee would likely time its actions with the release of reports from the Government Accountability Office that former committee Chairman Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, had requested earlier this year. Those reports, Mr. Harper said, are expected to be released in the late spring and early summer of 2007.
Another issue the committee is likely to take up, Mr. Harper said, is legislation to clarify and simplify the regulation of multistate surplus lines transactions. That legislation was passed by the House this year, but is unlikely to move through the lame duck Senate, which Mr. Harper noted has ignored the bill thus far.
Late Tuesday, the Senate Democratic Leadership said that new Democratic appointees to the Banking Committee will include Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii; Senator-elect Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Senator-elect Bob Casey, D-Pa.; and Senator-elect Jon Tester, D-Mont.
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