The MBA poll asked its commercial members to report whether the lack of terrorism insurance had impacted their business and to what extent.

MBA said 44 percent reported that the lack of terrorism insurance had greatly affected their ability to make loans on commercial properties, while 40 percent said the lack of cover affected their business somewhat. Only 16 percent reported they had experienced no effect.

Last year, MBA said its commercial membership reported originating $73.8 billion in commercial and multifamily property loans.

Lending on commercial properties has been much slower in the first half of this year, it said, due in part to the economy, but also due to the inability of the property owners to obtain sufficient terrorism insurance to protect the interests of investors in these loans.

"We have heard anecdotally about the problems on specific properties, but the magnitude of these numbers astounded me," said Jim Murphy, chairman of the MBA. "We are looking at billions of dollars in commercial financing that has been killed in the first half of the year because thus far Congress has been unable to reach agreement on a bill. The delay has been costly, and those costs will continue to go up the longer the delay."

MBA called for establishment of a federal government reinsurance backstop, with initial loss limitations for insurers. Initial losses exceeding those covered by insurance companies would be paid by a federal government reinsurance program under the plan advocated by MBA.

The group also seeks a cap on total losses to the private sector at a negotiated amount. Amounts in excess of the cap should be approved by Congress to protect the potential unlimited liability of taxpayers, MBA said.

According to MBA, any backstop program must include a provision for the review and evaluation of the need for future government intervention. Further, MBA said any resolution that is adopted should provide for the continuation of the program in the event that the private sector has not resumed writing policies that include necessary coverage, adding that there also needs to be a sufficient number of insurers returning to the market to resume competitive pricing.