Bill Clinton: “I want to give one example. I could literally give so many examples in this Chamber because they have flooded into my…”

“I want to give one example. I could literally give so many examples in this Chamber because they have flooded into my office and come to my attention and to my counsel's attention for weeks now. Francis Greenberger of Time Equities, Inc., a real estate investment firm, has confirmed to me that the insurer they had before September 11 required their company to buy terrorism insurance for four properties: three in New York and one in Madison, WI, an apartment building. They were required to insure the property in Madison, WI, against terrorism, despite the fact that it is clearly not near New York City. It is not an area where there have been a lot of threats, but, nevertheless, in order to get the terrorism insurance where it was needed in New York, the four properties were lumped together. The cost of the insurance premiums for these properties rose from $191,500 pre-September 11 to $664,300, an increase of 347 percent. Even with these exorbitant premiums, the amount of terrorism insurance coverage that the company received for these much higher premiums was actually 50 percent less than the amount of coverage it had previously received. In addition, the new policy excluded bioterrorism and nuclear attacks and had a deductibility of more than $1 million. By any standard, that is a terrible burden to try to absorb, especially during an economic downturn in the wake of the terrorist attack on New York. That is not by any means a unique story.”