White House Opposes Dems' TRIA Bill

Democrat-sponsored legislation that provides for a 10-year extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act is unacceptable to the Bush administration, a Treasury official has told a House committee."The administration believes that three elements are critical if TRIA is to be reauthorized for a second time: the program remains temporary and short-term; private sector retentions are increased; and there is no expansion of the program," Treasury Assistant Secretary David Nason testified before the House Financial Services Committee. Democrats on the committee recently introduced a 10-year extension of the government program, which acts as a federal backstop to shield private insurers from catastrophic losses in the event of a terrorist attack. The Democrats' bill (H.R. 2761) also expands TRIA to cover nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological acts of terrorism. "H.R. 2761 does not meet our objectives," Mr. Nason said. "In Treasury's view, from a market and economic perspective, it would be better to have no TRIA than a bad TRIA."