RIGHT IN TIME for the holidays, Congress voted to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for another two years and sent the bill (S. 467) to the president for his expected signature. For months, the House and Senate had backed substantially different versions of renewal legislation, with the House's bill more generous to insurers in most respects. With TRIA set to expire on Dec. 31, and with the Bush Administration adamantly opposed to widening the program, insurers and their supporters in Congress wisely concluded that it would be preferable to find a scaled-back version of TRIA in their stockings than to have no Christmas TRIA at all. So in the end, the House did just about all the compromising in the compromise legislation.

Agents and insurers alike were quick to praise Congress for putting an end to the uncertainty surrounding TRIA's extension. “We are enormously pleased the Congress has approved a new backstop that will help provide needed coverage to our nation's commercial sector in the event of another catastrophic attack,” said Robert A. Rusbuldt, CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.

“PIA is very pleased that Congress renewed TRIA,” said Len Brevik, executive vice president and CEO of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. “Passage of this legislation is good news for businesses across the country, for insurance agents, for our economy and for America.”