Insurance groups sweating bullets over whether Uncle Sam will keep his terrorism reinsurance backstop in place are partying in Washington like it's 1994. That was the last year the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. And while insurer and agent groups are traditionally associated with Republicans, the fact is that when it comes to TRIA, their most enthusiastic ally is not the GOP, but the Democrats, as developments this week demonstrated.
Indeed, NU Washington Editor Dave Postal reports that Democrats in Congress will seek to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for as long as five years–and perhaps even expand the program to reinsure natural catastrophes! That's the word from Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
That certainly is a lot better than what the industry was hearing from the current Republican majority, which treated insurers as if they were trying to bamboozle the federal government into giving them a bailout of an exposure the GOP believes should be entirely carried by the private market.
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