GALLEGO CELEBRATES SENATE PASSAGE OF HIS BIPARTISAN BILL TO EXTEND TERRORISM RISK INSURANCE

The following information was released by the office of Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego:

Last night, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) celebrated the Senate passage of his Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2026. The bipartisan legislation would safeguard the availability of terrorism risk insurance coverage for American businesses.

"My military service gave me an understanding that terrorism doesn't just take lives the moment it strikes it leaves behind families, businesses, and communities that must rebuild in its aftermath. We have to be prepared for the worst, and that means making sure businesses aren't left without coverage if a terrorist attack were to happen. Letting this program lapse would put businesses, workers, and taxpayers at unnecessary risk," said Senator Gallego. "I'm proud to work alongside my colleagues in the Senate to get this bill passed. I urge Speaker Johnson to bring the House back to D.C. from their prolonged vacation to quickly send this bill to the president's desk for signage."

Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, many insurance companies began excluding terrorism risks from commercial insurance policies, leaving businesses and industries without access to coverage. Since insurance is a precondition for commercial lending and real estate transactions, this gap in coverage threatened broad economic damage across real estate, construction, energy, transportation, and related industries.

Congress responded by passing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), creating a federal reinsurance backstop to stabilize the private market and ensure that commercial policyholders could continue to obtain terrorism risk coverage.

The private insurance market has relied on the TRIA backstop ever since. When TRIA briefly lapsed in December 2014, terrorism exclusions that insurers had pre-filed with state regulators took effect automatically, making terrorism coverage effectively unavailable across commercial policies nationwide. As a result, terrorism risk coverage was removed from policyholders immediately and without notice. Given that the current threat landscape remains elevated, allowing a similar lapse in terrorism coverage would expose policy holders to unnecessary financial risk and uncertainty.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2026 would extend TRIA by seven years. Acting before the program expiration date of December 31, 2027, provides long-term market certainty and would prevent policyholders from facing a gap in coverage.