Louise Slaughter: “I oppose the hubris it embodies and the process it represents. In what is becoming standard procedure, the House is…”

“I oppose the hubris it embodies and the process it represents. In what is becoming standard procedure, the House is preparing to move forward with an important bill that is not ready for prime time. No one doubts the critical nature of this bill. The withdrawal of terrorism coverage by reinsurers may force primary insurers to radically increase premiums for policyholders or to withdraw coverage entirely. The consequences could reverberate throughout the entire economy. Virtually nothing could happen in the American economy without insurance, and the vast majority in this body agrees that Congress has a duty to intervene in the reinsurance marketplace to safeguard against a cascading economic crisis. Unfortunately, the leadership in the body has seized upon the crisis in an attempt to circumvent regular order and move forward with tort reform, a wholly extraneous matter. Tort reform does not belong in this bill, nor was it requested by the reinsurance industry representatives during the many discussions leading up to the legislation. Even by the standards that are in place here, this is a heavy-handed attempt to curtail victims' rights. The tort reform provision threatens to derail the principal objective of the legislation, which is to revitalize and reestablish a rational and functional reinsurance market.”