TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026

Mr. Speaker, too often Congress reflexively renews sprawling federal backstops that the market no longer needs--quietly gambling with taxpayers' exposure to potentially massive losses while ignoring the absence of any real market breakdown. This TRIA reauthorization fits the pattern perfectly: another automatic green light for an open-ended federal guarantee, despite no evidence of a genuine market failure.

I think it's important to recall exactly what Congress intended when it created the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, or TRIA. The statute laid out that the program was established as ``. . . a temporary federal program that provides for a transparent system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism, in order to (1) protect consumers by addressing market disruptions and ensure the continued widespread availability and affordability of property and casualty insurance for terrorism risk; and (2) allow for a transitional period for the private markets to stabilize, resume pricing of such insurance, and build capacity to absorb any future losses, while preserving State insurance regulation and consumer protections.''

That's the law's own language--and the key phrase here is ``temporary federal program.'' TRIA was never meant to be permanent. It was designed to give the private market time to adjust, mature, and ultimately take full responsibility for insuring against terrorism risk. Yet here we are, twenty plus years later, marking up another long-term reauthorization that continues to rely on federal involvement instead of meaningfully reducing it.

I have great respect for my colleagues who have worked hard on this proposal, but I believe that H.R. 7128 misses an opportunity. Rather than putting TRIA on a path toward less government exposure and greater private-sector responsibility, this bill extends the federal backstop until December 31, 2034--nearly nine years from now. That's hardly consistent with the statute's intent of providing a ``transitional'' program.

I also believe that H.R. 7128 violates the spirit--if not the letter--of the House Republican floor protocols for the 119th Congress, particularly the requirement that federal programs be subject to a sunset ``not later than seven years'' after spending is first authorized or continued. Under Section 2, H.R. 7128 does not merely ``add seven years'' to a distant end date; it strikes ``2027'' and inserts ``2034,'' making this authorization effective as soon as the bill is enacted and keeping TRIA in force through the end of 2034.

In my view, the proper way to apply our Conference's seven-year sunset standard is to measure from when the reauthorized program actually takes effect--namely, when this bill is signed into law and TRIA's federal backstop is once again authorized. In other words, the ``clock'' should start when we newly authorize or continue the program, not from the old termination date written in prior law. Viewed that way, characterizing H.R. 7128 as a simple seven-year extension obscures the reality that Congress would be reauthorizing a significant federal program for nearly a decade at once, in tension with our Conference's stated commitment to regular review and reconsideration of federal spending and backstop authorities.

This is especially concerning given that, to date, TRIA has never been activated. In the 20 plus years since TRIA was enacted, there has not been a single Treasury-certified act of terrorism that met the program's financial trigger. Not once has the federal government been required to step in under TRIA.

Meanwhile, the private insurance industry has not just done well in this space--it has thrived under the shelter of a taxpayer-funded guarantee. According to the Treasury Department, from 2003 to 2023 insurers collected roughly $56.7 billion in terrorism risk premiums.

That is not the profile of a fragile market in need of permanent federal protection; it is evidence that insurers have the experience, capital, and appetite to keep cashing premium checks while the public absorbs the worst-case downside risks. In effect, taxpayers provide free reinsurance so that insurance carriers can book steady revenue and protect record surpluses--a classic example of privatized gains and socialized risk. Given this track record, the question is no longer whether insurance companies can begin to shoulder more of the risk, but why they have been allowed to avoid doing so for this long.

Yet instead of taking any meaningful steps to scale down taxpayer exposure or establish a serious glide path for an eventual federal exit, this bill simply extends the program nearly as-is. I find that deeply disappointing, because I do not believe the federal government should be in the business of permanently backstopping risks that the private sector is clearly capable of handling on its own.

It did not have to be this way. I offered an amendment that I believe would have greatly improved this bill by beginning the long-overdue process of shifting more terrorism risk off taxpayers and back onto the well-capitalized insurance industry where it belongs.

First, my amendment would have reduced the federal cost share. Under current law, the federal government covers 80 percent of covered losses above insurer deductibles. My amendment would have reset that share to 75 percent and then ratcheted it down by 1 percentage point a year until it reached 70 percent. This would have created a gradual, predictable glide path that would give insurers time to adjust while steadily reducing federal exposure and putting more responsibility back on the private market where it belongs.

Second, my amendment would have reduced the circumstances under which taxpayers are forced to step in. Under current law, the program trigger remains frozen at $200 million. My amendment would have raised that trigger by $10 million per year until it reached $250 million, and then indexed it to inflation using a benchmark selected by the Treasury Secretary through a rulemaking process. That approach would have kept the trigger aligned with economic reality instead of shrinking in real terms and quietly expanding the federal role, ensuring that more of the risk stays with insurers rather than being shifted to taxpayers.

Third, my amendment would have shortened the length of the reauthorization by changing the program termination date to five years after enactment. Five years provides ample certainty for markets, but it also respects the fact that TRIA was supposed to be temporary, and that Congress should regularly revisit the scope of federal involvement.

Fourth, my amendment would have forced Treasury to do the serious homework this bill avoids, laying out how, within a few years, we could dramatically reduce taxpayer risk and make the industry shoulder a larger share of the costs. It would have directed Treasury to study how an annual participation fee on insurers in TRIA could be structured, including options that generate substantial aggregate fees and deposit them into a dedicated fund at Treasury that can be used solely to cover future federal outlays or reimbursements under the program. The study would have been required to examine fee designs that are proportionate to insurer size and premiums, so that

large national carriers shoulder the largest share while small and regional insurers are not disproportionately burdened.

It also would have evaluated whether a carefully designed opt-out for small insurers from the mandatory availability requirement could work without undermining the long-term health of the program. Treasury would then have been required to report back to the Financial Services Committee with concrete findings and legislative options, giving us real data to build a system that shifts more risk off taxpayers and onto the well-capitalized insurance companies that benefit from TRIA.

My amendment would not have pulled the rug out from under anyone; it simply asked the insurance industry to start standing on its own two feet. It took modest, measured steps to ratchet down the federal share, raise and index the trigger, shorten a long-term reauthorization, and finally force a serious conversation about a participation fee and dedicated fund that would put taxpayers ahead of industry convenience.

When Congress tells the public a program will be temporary, we incur more than a procedural obligation--we make a promise. In TRIA's case, there is no ambiguity about that promise: the statute itself describes it as a temporary federal program. The Members of Congress considering this legislation have, in my view, a covenant with our predecessors who first authorized TRIA on that basis. To honor that covenant, we must either set this program on a genuine path of reform, as my amendment would have done, or have the courage to let it expire. A long-term extension with only minimal changes does not satisfy that obligation.

I want to thank Chairman Flood and Chairman Hill for their leadership and for their efforts to maintain stability in this space, and I appreciate their willingness to engage in this important discussion. But when we shrink from doing the difficult things; when we refuse to challenge an industry all too eager to cash terrorism insurance premium checks backed by taxpayers; when we cannot even agree on modest, common-sense reforms to a backstop that has never once been triggered, we miss a rare opportunity to leave the terrorism insurance marketplace stronger and more accountable than we found it. For all of these reasons, I must oppose H.R. 7128 in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7128) to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the CBO estimate for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I will start today by thanking Chairman Hill, Ranking Member Waters, and my co-lead on this bill, Congressman Andrew Garbarino. All of us have worked together on legislative text that would reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program while also making changes that will protect taxpayers.

This legislation would reauthorize TRIA, the program established by Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, through 2034. We are so fortunate that we have never seen a TRIA claim in the program's entire history. I hope that we never ever see one.

However, if this program is going to continue to exist with a public backstop, we should ensure we update its charter to protect taxpayers in the event of future claims, and we should work to ensure the certification process is transparent. Allow me to briefly walk through the changes this bill makes to TRIA.

Number one, this legislation increases the amount of losses that must result from an event for it to be eligible for review by the Department of the Treasury as a terrorism risk insurance event.

The current statutory threshold is $5 million, and this bill would increase that to $10 million for events in 2029 and later. That change will keep this threshold in line with inflation, and it will put in place appropriate protections for taxpayers from future claims.

This legislation also provides a couple of new deadlines, or shot clocks, as you may have them, for the Department of the Treasury to certify whether an event is an act of terror.

That process would work as follows. First, the Treasury Department would publish its intent to examine a potential event more closely in the Federal Register. They must publish this notice within 30 days of initiating their review of an event. Then, 90 days after publishing that notice in the Federal Register, the Treasury Department would need to come to a decision about whether that event qualifies as an act of terror. If the Treasury Department needs more time, they could extend that deadline up to a year after the original event occurred.

Because the program, again, thankfully, has never been tested, we don't have much of a case study on how Treasury's review process would work

today. What we do know is that markets tend not to react well to uncertainty. With no active deadlines for review, the current process leaves a lot of room for ambiguity and uncertainty.

We want to ensure that if, God forbid, we are in the position of reacting to a potential terrorist attack with a Treasury review, there is sufficient structure to the process to provide insureds and insurers with the information they need on when to expect Treasury's review to conclude.

With these changes, there will be transparency for everyone in the market regarding when Treasury is undertaking a review of specific events and when they can expect a final decision on whether an event is covered by TRIA.

I am so pleased to have bipartisan support for this commonsense reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record seven letters of support on behalf of this bill.

Mortgage Bankers Association,

Washington, DC, June 29, 2026.

Hon. Mike Johnson,

Speaker, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Hakeem Jeffries,

Minority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. French Hill,

Chairman, Committee on Financial Services,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Maxine Waters,

Ranking Member, Committee on Financial Services,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Chairman Hill, and

Ranking Member Waters: On behalf of the Mortgage Bankers

Association (MBA), I am writing to express our support for

H.R. 7128, the TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026, as

amended, in advance of the bill's anticipated consideration

by the full House under suspension of the rules this week. As

you know, a similar version of the legislation passed the

House Financial Services Committee in late January by the

wide bipartisan margin of 51 to 2. MBA urges all Members to

vote ``Aye'' on H.R. 7128, as amended, when it comes before

the full House for a vote.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-

297) and its subsequent reauthorizations have been essential

to MBA's members, as private insurers cannot adequately

supply terrorism coverage without a federal backstop. Thus,

the uninterrupted continuation of the TRIA program going

forward remains a critical consideration.

By extending TRIA for seven years, H.R. 7128, as

principally sponsored by Reps. Mike Flood, Emanuel Cleaver,

and Andrew Garbarino, will provide certainty to the broad

array of businesses (across countless economic sectors) that

rely upon this critical program.

The bill, as most recently amended, also includes measured

reforms that would (1) raise the program's certification

``trigger'' loss threshold from $5 to $10 million (beginning

in 2029) and (2) add an enhanced event timeline for Treasury

Department certification of domestic acts of terrorism.

With $5.02 trillion in total mortgage debt outstanding the

commercial real estate finance (CREF) sector, which is

comprised of key capital sources including commercial banks,

life insurance companies, the housing Government Sponsored

Enterprises (``GSEs'') Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the

Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal

Housing Administration (FHA), commercial mortgage-backed

securities (CMBS) issuers, debt funds, and other

institutional sources, is a large and integral part of the

national economy.

Together, these capital sources support the financing of

the office, retail, industrial, and multifamily rental

properties that serve as the foundation of our communities

and our nation. Beyond housing individual families, these

properties also accommodate the businesses that are the

engines for our nation?s vibrant and diverse economy. Any gap

in the availability of terrorism risk insurance would

negatively impact the CREF sector and ripple through the

broader economy--as buildings would become more difficult and

costly to finance, sell, and purchase.

The enactment of a long-term TRIA reauthorization is

especially critical for the affected CREF mortgage servicers

whose functions include review of insurance coverage,

negotiating and placing coverage when not in place, receipt

of insurance and mortgage payments, customer service, escrow

administration, investor accounting, collections,

foreclosures, and more. Phrased differently, MBA's CREF

members hold the single largest share of real estate debt

outstanding in all markets--and therefore retain the ``lion's

share'' of the financial risk associated with property damage

or destruction.

Conclusion

MBA commends you for taking such early action (during

calendar year 2026) on a longterm TRIA reauthorization--an

action needed well-prior to the program's expiration on

December 31, 2027, to provide continued market certainty and

prevent key policyholders (like our members) from facing any

meaningful gap in coverage.

Again, MBA urges an ``Aye'' vote on H.R. 7128, as amended,

by all House Members during a vote scheduled to take place

this week (most likely later today).

We look forward to our ongoing work together in the coming

weeks and months to promote a competitive, sustainable real

estate finance market within the United States.

Thank you in advance for the consideration of the views

expressed within this letter.

Sincerely,

Bill Killmer,

Senior Vice President, Legislative and Political Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank Chairman Flood and Ranking Member Cleaver of the subcommittee and certainly our full committee ranking member, Ms. Waters, for their work with the majority to craft this extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

The reauthorization of this program is important. I thank, on a bipartisan basis, those who have worked to bring it to fruition.

Every Member of this body, Mr. Speaker, including you, my friend, knows where they were on September 11, 2001. That day changed everything, including how America thought about risk. Before those attacks, the private insurance market handled terrorism risk like any other. After 9/11, no insurer could price it or absorb it alone.

Congress subsequently created TRIA in 2002. The purpose of TRIA is spelled out in the original law. Section 101(b) states that TRIA is designed to provide for ``a transparent system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism in order to protect consumers.''

That is the goal here, to give policyholders access to the financial protection and confidence they need to build skyscrapers, sports venues, and malls, and employ workers that drive our economy.

Each reauthorization is an opportunity to look at what is working and what is not and to look at what adjustments are needed to keep delivering market certainty and stability.

As time has passed, quirks in TRIA have appeared that make it harder for those policyholders to get their claims paid quickly and fully and left insurers adrift in the lurch of a clunky will-they/won't-they certification process.

Mr. Flood's bill today proposes a modest set of improvements that will add clarity to the certification process and make it easier for insurers to pay their claims in a timely manner and easier for policyholders to recover financially when they need those payments the most.

Throughout this process, we have sought feedback from Members on both sides of the aisle and others as we have moved to get out in front of this program's scheduled expiration in December 2027 so that everyone would have an opportunity to review and debate the modest improvements contained in this measure.

The reality is that terrorism is now, unfortunately, a permanent fixture of American life. Whether you are in Los Angeles, the Big Apple, or Little Rock, this risk does not respect geography, and it does not go away.

I urge my colleagues to support Mr. Flood's bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding, and I agree with his assessment.

It is true that TRIA was designed to create certainty, not doubt, for our businesses, indeed our economy at large after something unthinkable takes place.

It requires insurance companies to make stand-alone terrorism coverage available to their clients, who can choose to purchase it or not in addition to their traditional business insurance coverage.

That was the system we devised more than two decades ago to provide continuity after a large-scale terrorism event, as well as to provide businesses the fastest path to economic recovery.

It simply would not work within the spirit of the law or the confines of this reauthorization to pursue pathways that interrupted that system and flow of that important post-event recovery capital.

I am very pleased, as my friend from Missouri knows, that Ranking Member Waters and I have worked to include some small but important reforms to the post-event process to make sure that policyholders can get their claims paid more fully and quickly, the way that TRIA intended.

Simply put, TRIA should always be about putting affected policyholders first, and that is represented in the bill text that we are voting on today.

I thank the gentleman from Missouri for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I echo agreement with Ranking Member Cleaver's words today as well as the chairman of our subcommittee, Mike Flood, and his hard work on both sides of the aisle to bring forward this 7-year reauthorization of this critically important program well in advance of its expiration.

Mr. Speaker, what I love about this is the majority and the minority, working together for the benefit of the American economy, are getting this done well in advance of any loss or gap in coverage.

We know it is important. We treasure the fact that we are in the semiquincentennial year of our country's life, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, but everybody in the back of their mind on this House floor in the coming weeks will be thinking about another anniversary, one that we are not celebrating with fireworks or bands or parades, and that is, sadly, the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks on Washington, New York, and our country at large. It makes us sad, and we reflect on those who we lost, the claims that we are still paying, the families that are still mourning.

This bill is an important reminder that we have an obligation to our country to do things right, to be thinking about the future, to be thinking about our Nation's economic growth, prosperity, and the safety of the American people.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to answer this call today and support this 7-year reauthorization of our Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 7128, the TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026, sponsored by Representative Flood.

I am pleased that today we are considering this critical legislation to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program for 7 years. This is a bipartisan bill, as it has been in past reauthorizations.

I first thank Chairman Hill, Ranking Member Waters, Representative

Flood, and our staffs for working to ensure long-term certainty and availability of affordable terrorism risk insurance all across the country, which small businesses, hospitals, universities, not-for- profits, and others rely on.

TRIA was first enacted after the September 11 terrorist acts. After the attack, terrorism risk insurance all but disappeared, and any coverage that could be found was extremely expensive. Without terrorism insurance, commercial reconstruction in New York stalled, raising the threat of larger economic fallout.

In response, Congress passed TRIA in 2002 to provide certainty for insurers and policyholders and access to terrorism risk insurance by creating a Federal backstop in the event of catastrophic losses. Since then, the program has effectively done just that.

As we look back nearly 25 years since 9/11, it is important to recognize the Federal Government's role in supporting economic development through TRIA. In our role in Congress, as stakeholders, we unanimously agree with that act.

TRIA is set to expire at the end of 2027. By reauthorizing the program ahead of that deadline, it will offer desperately desired certainty to policyholders moving forward.

This legislation will provide a long-term reauthorization through 2034 and make targeted but sensible updates to the program. The bill would increase the threshold to certify an individual terrorism event to require more than $10 million in property and casualty insurance losses from the current level of more than $5 million. It would also codify the existing regulatory requirement that Treasury provides public notice in the Federal Register within 30 days of beginning the process of certification determination and require Treasury to issue its determination within 90 days of that notice.

To address minor technical feedback from Treasury, the bill will now allow the Secretary of the Treasury to extend the review period for an additional 365 days if there is insufficient information at the time to determine certification.

I also thank Congresswoman Velazquez and Congresswoman Pressley for their efforts on the bill, as their communities were directly impacted by tragedies caused by terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this essential legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to enter into a colloquy with the chairman.

I was appalled by reports that a FEMA employee used their authority entrusted by the United States to determine access to Federal aid based on a political yard sign.

Whether we are talking about FEMA or the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, this type of action violates the mission of Federal programs that Congress designs to work for all Americans.

Likewise, H.R. 7128 is also designed to avoid anything like that from happening in the future with regard to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program.

Congress passed TRIA shortly after the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks in an effort to ensure all businesses, not just some, could access terrorism insurance coverage. Since then, we have repeatedly reauthorized the act to provide certainty to all American businesses and the insurance market.

However, a capricious use of TRIA would undermine the certainty, and, for that reason, some of the changes we made to the act would ensure that certainty is a part of what both sides believe to be necessary.

Mr. Speaker, I know the chairman agrees with me on this matter, and I value his thoughts as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) to engage in a colloquy with me.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, TRIA exists because the private market, left alone, will not provide adequate terrorism risk insurance for businesses, universities, and policyholders. The losses are too large and

too unpredictable for private insurers to price or absorb alone. We learned this after September 11 when coverage all but vanished and commercial reconstruction stalled in New York City.

Congress stepped in with a Federal backstop, and for over two decades, TRIA has kept the market functioning. H.R. 7128 reauthorizes that Federal reinsurance program for 7 years, extending certainty to small businesses, hospitals, universities, and not-for-profits that rely on it.

This is a bipartisan piece of legislation. With TRIA set to expire at the end of 2027, passing this bill now and by reauthorizing it through 2034 with sensible targeted updates is both timely and necessary.

Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I missed two votes in the vote series on June 29, 2026. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 229, final passage of H.R. 7128 as amended, the TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026; and YEA on Roll Call No. 228, final passage of H.R. 7757 as amended, the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act.