Tim Mahoney: “I'd like to join in support of my friend here from Florida (Mr. Klein) in opposing this amendment. The point I'd like to…”

“I'd like to join in support of my friend here from Florida (Mr. Klein) in opposing this amendment. The point I'd like to make is very simple, and that is, the whole purpose of the bill is to stabilize the private homeowners insurance marketplace. And the goal of the bill is to work with the industry to continually find ways to expand the market so that the market takes the responsibility. Right now, the problem that we're facing in the homeowners insurance market is unfunded liability, where we have the opportunity or the specter of a disaster, where the combination of States and the insurance industry do not have the financial wherewithal to pay claims. The purpose of this bill in the first title is to try to work with States to consolidate risk in order to expand the private market's activity so that it can handle these claims. So when the gentleman from Illinois proposes to arbitrarily set a 1-in-100-year mark, what it's doing is it's running counter to the goal of the legislation, which is to get the private insurance companies to take on more and more of the responsibility. So with that, I think that the bill that we have right now recognizes that there needs to be some variability in some cases. One in 100 years, depending on States, might be too little; and in some cases it might be too much. So, therefore, I would urge that this amendment be defeated. I yield back the balance of my time.”