Thomas E. Petri: “Mr. Speaker, last month the war risk insurance program was reauthorized by the House, but only through the end of next…”

“Mr. Speaker, last month the war risk insurance program was reauthorized by the House, but only through the end of next month. We need to quickly move to reauthorize the program for a longer period of time and do it in a way that is acceptable to the Senate. This program has operated successfully for over 47 years. The bill would reauthorize the war risk insurance program through December 31, 2003. Insurance is an essential feature of any commercial airline operation, but ordinary business insurance operations are normally not willing, and certainly not at normal rates, to insure flights to high-risk areas such as countries at war or on the verge of war. In many cases, flights into these dangerous situations, however, are required to further our Nation's foreign policy or national security objectives. On many occasions in the past, commercial airlines, rather than military planes, have been used to move materiel and troops into war-type areas including, for example, most recently during Desert Storm-Desert Shield operations and other conflicts. Without the war risk program, commercial airlines would not have flown these military flights, and therefore the Department of Defense would have had to grant or purchase aircraft at a cost to the taxpayers of millions of dollars, if not billions.”