Senate approves terror insurance bill

The Senate approved legislation Thursday to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk 
Insurance Act (TRIA) for six years, over the objections of some Democrats who criticized a provision they said would weaken Wall Street regulations.

The bill, which cleared the House a day earlier, passed the upper chamber on a 93-4 vote.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders
 (I-Vt.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) opposed the measure.

Despite reservations over the Wall Street language, President Obama is expected to sign the bill, the first sent to his desk in the new GOP-controlled Congress.

Many Democrats — including Warren — opposed a provision that would amend the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform
 law. The measure, sought in some sectors of the financial services industry, would scrap certain regulations for nonfinancial institutions — dubbed 
”end users” — that are applied to big banks.



Warren’s amendment to remove the “end users” provision failed, by a 66-31 vote tally. 



TRIA allows for the federal government to serve a backstop for businesses after a massive terrorist attack.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) pushed for TRIA reforms that he said would better protect taxpayers in the event of a major terror strike.

Hensarling successfully pushed to double the amount of damage that businesses must incur during an attack from $100 million to $200 million, to trigger federal repayments.

The vote comes one day after a terrorist attack on a French newspaper left 12 people dead.



A broad coalition of groups from the banking, professional sports and tourism industries rallied to push for a long-term reauthorization bill. The Chamber of Commerce and the NFL were among those who supported the legislation.



Hensarling and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) were unable to negotiate a deal before TRIA expired on Dec. 31. 

Their talks fell apart largely because of the end users provision, but also because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who has since retired, opposed another rider attached to the bill that would create a nonprofit clearinghouse for insurance agents. He pushed for states to be able to opt out of the program.



The House passed the TRIA bill on Wednesday on a 416-5 vote.

— This story was updated at 2:52 p.m.