Posted on 07/17/2014 11:44:50 AM PDT by PoloSec
(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to reauthorize a federal terrorism risk insurance program that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Senators voted 93-4 in favor of a bill that gives the federal insurance backstop seven more years. Businesses, owners of sports stadiums and other groups that insure against the risk of terrorist acts have urged lawmakers to renew the program before it expires at the end of the year.
"In a post-9/11 New York, terrorism risk insurance has proven to be an absolutely essential partnership between the government and the private sector that has turned rebuilding downtown Manhattan from a question to a certainty," Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, said in a statement after the vote.
The extension needs to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, which has struggled to agree on a reauthorization plan.
The program was established after the 2001 attacks, when insurers suffered steep losses and some stopped offering terrorism risk insurance on commercial buildings.
Congress stepped in with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, or TRIA. Under the program, insurers must offer certain types of terrorism risk coverage. If losses from an attack exceed a set amount, the federal backstop kicks in. The program has been reauthorized twice.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
What does this mean? It’s not “insurance” if the taxpayers are paying for it
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