Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am appreciative of Senator Schumer and the work we have been able to do together to move this legislation forward. I rise today to speak in favor of S. 2244, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, or TRIA, program. As a cosponsor of this bill, I recognize Senator Schumer, Senator Kirk, Senator Heller, Senator Reed, and others for helping to put this bipartisan piece of legislation together. Chairman Johnson and his staff also deserve a great amount of thanks for their strong efforts in moving this bill forward. Working together, we developed a balanced bipartisan product that was literally unanimously supported in the banking committee 22 to 0. This bill we have put together allows the private insurance industry to absorb and cover the losses of all but the largest acts of terror--ones in which the Federal Government would likely be forced to step in, in any event, if the program were not there. Taxpayer protections have been increased in this reauthorization by moving more of the responsibility for losses on to private insurers. For those who are not familiar with the program, TRIA was initially passed as a response to the unavailability of terrorism insurance in the wake of 9/11. The private market had already retreated in response to those terrorist attacks. It was then thought that a temporary program would allow the market time to develop products that would allow policyholders to protect themselves from terrorism losses.…”