GOP Lawmakers Urge Swift Movement on Federal Terrorism Insurance Backstop
By: Mark Hofmann (Business Insurance) December 2014
A group of more than 40 Republican members of the House of Representatives are urging swift, long-term reauthorization of the federal government’s terrorism insurance backstop program.
In a Dec. 1 letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the representatives said the fact that the program, slated to expire Dec. 31, has not yet been reauthorized is “already hurting the economy.”
Businesses that currently carry terrorism coverage are being told their coverage will end absent congressional action, which is “causing the sort of uncertainty that hurts economic growth,” according to the letter’s signatories.
The writers, led by Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., say that a short-term extension of the program would only prolong the problem. “The time is now to act on a multiyear reauthorization” of the program, they added.
The full Senate has passed the measure that would extend the program for seven years. The House Financial Services Committee approved a different bill that would extend the program for five years, but the full House has yet to act on either measure.
The program will expire unless it is reauthorized during the current lame-duck session, which is expected to last until next week.
