Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007

Floor Speech

TERRORISM RISK INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 12, 2007)

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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Frank for your hard work on the legislation, and with all due respect to the gentleman from Alabama, I can appreciate what you are saying about the Senate and our negotiations with them, but the Congress of the United States is not a unicameral institution.

The Founding Fathers created two Chambers, two bodies, and the opinions of this body are just as important as the opinions of the other body. And sending a strong message about the reset provisions and about the group life provisions for the policyholders that you say don't care about those provisions is why we have a bicameral Congress.

The other issue that I want to raise is that the life insurance fairness provision in this legislation, which you have strongly supported consistently, can stand on its own. It is not dependent upon group life being included in this legislation overall and it has no ties to that provision.

In the 109th Congress, we passed a bipartisan version of TRIA that included a provision that says that individuals will not be denied life insurance coverage based solely on where they might lawfully travel, and that is included in this provision again. Too often life insurance companies deny the applications of people who express the intent to travel internationally. That's particularly true when people say that they plan to travel to Israel because Israel and 26 other countries appear on the State Department's travel warning list. The life insurance industry is using the State Department's travel warning list as an underwriting tool. It was never intended to be an underwriting tool. Countries don't make that list based on an actuarial analysis. There are political and diplomatic considerations for those appearing on that list. Travel fairness language will protect consumers from unfair life insurance discrimination on the basis of past or future lawful travel, and this provision allows the insurers to price for risk according to an actuarial analysis. It's also fair to the insurance companies because it allows for denial based on war, serious health conditions in the country the person is traveling to, or fraud.

The freedom to travel is a right that we cherish, and no American should have to choose between their children's financial security and having the right to travel freely. And that is what we are forcing Americans to do if we don't pass this travel fairness language as a part of the reauthorization of TRIA. If we allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on the notion of where a person might travel, we are giving in to the terrorists who wish to change our way of life.

Life insurance companies have been using the State Department warning list as an underwriting tool. It was never meant to be utilized that way. I urge the Members to support the House-passed version of TRIA.

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