Backers of an optional federal charter will be happy to hear that Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., will likely chair the U.S. Senate Banking Committee next year if Democratic nominee Barack Obama is elected president.
Sens. Johnson and John Sununu, R-N.H., are primary sponsors of S. 40, "The National Insurance Act of 2007," which would give insurers the option of choosing between a state and federal charter.
Sen. Johnson is running for re-election despite suffering a near-fatal brain hemorrhage in December 2006, just after the Democrats regained control of Congress. He did not return to the Senate for almost a year and still has difficulty speaking.
Steve Jarding, manager of Sen. Johnson's re-election campaign, confirmed from South Dakota what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told lobbyists attending a meeting of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee during the Democratic convention in Denver.
Under this scenario, the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would open up because Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., would become vice president.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the current chair of the Banking Committee, has indicated for a number of years his interest in chairing Foreign Relations. Mr. Jarding, along with several insurance and banking lobbyists, privately confirmed that Sen. Dodd has long had an interest in heading the Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Dodd, who has headed the Senate Banking Committee since Democrats regained control of Congress in January 2007, has voiced support for an OFC for the life insurance industry, reiterating those comments as recently as a July 29 hearing on insurance regulatory issues.
However, he has voiced some concerns about a similar option for property-casualty insurers.
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