In the end, things went smoothly. But getting to that point in the renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) proved to be very difficult.
On Jan. 12, President Barack Obama signed bipartisan legislation that extended TRIA for six years and made a few changes in program. Days earlier, both chambers of the new 114th Congress had passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 26) by nearly unanimous votes.
Why, then, did reauthorization of TRIA take more than a year? In the House, Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) wanted to scale TRIA back and eventually phase it out. He came up with his own bill, which passed out of his committee. The only problem was that Rep. Hensarling's bill lacked the votes to pass the full House. As a result, leadership would not schedule a floor vote.
With the Senate firmly on board and Rep. Hensarling's bill getting no traction, negotiations began between the House and Senate, which resulted in a rare bipartisan agreement on a bill for a six-year reauthorization. Notably, it included a provision creating the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB).
In December, the House passed the compromise—but then it hit a brick wall on the Senate side, in the person of retiring Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who had issues with NARAB provisions. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attempted to bring the bill up for a vote, Coburn blocked it by objecting. Rather than staying in session, the Senate adjourned and the bill died.
Congress' inability to complete its work led to a lapse in the terrorism insurance program, during which the world received a vivid reminder of terrorism threats with the assault on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Success in New Congress
With a new year came the new 114th Congress, which wasted no time accomplishing what the previous Congress failed to do. The House passed the same bill on Jan. 7 by a vote of 416-5, with NARAB included, and the Senate—without Sen. Coburn—passed the bill 93-4 the next day.
A broad, nationwide coalition engaged in a coordinated TRIA advocacy campaign that lasted for more than a year. This coalition included businesses, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations.
This sustained effort is what led to success. It is a hopeful sign that progress instead of gridlock on Capitol Hill is achievable. It's no longer unthinkable that members of Congress can put partisanship aside and do what's good for Americans.
We must work together to ensure that the startup process for NARAB goes smoothly. The association is intended to facilitate reciprocity in producer licensing without creating a new federal insurance bureaucracy. Therefore, PIA will work with its partners to ensure that the law creating NARAB is properly implemented. An important part of this is to ensure that the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) has nothing to do with it, because it is statutorily prohibited from functioning in any way as an insurance regulator.
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