Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision Act. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon altered how we each assess risk. This adjustment was especially apparent in the insurance industry. Terrorism insurance is critical to protecting jobs and promoting America's economic security. Unfortunately, the supply of terrorism reinsurance after the September 11 attacks significantly decreased. Eventually, we approved the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act to address this problem. At recent hearings, we have learned that this law has worked to increase the availability of terrorism risk insurance, lowered the cost of such insurance, contributed significantly to stabilizing the overall insurance marketplace, and advanced delayed economic development projects. We also wisely designed this program as a temporary backstop to get our Nation through a period of economic uncertainty until the private sector could develop the models to price for terrorism reinsurance. Unlike hurricanes and fires, acts of terrorism in the American experience currently remain inherently unpredictable in frequency and scale. As a result, the private sector has not yet returned to the terrorism reinsurance marketplace. Many studies support this finding. The Government Accountability Office, for example, has determined that the industry has made little progress to date in providing terrorism insurance without government involvement.…”