Press Releases

House Passes Bipartisan Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization
Bill Includes McHenry Provision to Better Understand & Counter Cyberterrorism Risk

 

Washington, November 18, 2019 -

Today, the House of Representatives passed with broad bipartisan support H.R. 4634, the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019.” This bipartisan legislation extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for an additional seven years and modernizes the program to meet 21st century threats.

H.R. 4634 includes Ranking Republican Patrick McHenry’s (NC-10) provision to require a study and report on cyberterrorism and how the program would react in the aftermath of a largescale cyberattack. As the digital capabilities of our adversaries only continue to grow, our programs must keep pace to ensure an attack of this nature does not cripple our nation’s public and private infrastructure.

Watch Ranking Member McHenry’s statement from the House floor in support of the bipartisan TRIA reauthorization bill here or by clicking on the image above.

Ranking Member McHenry on countering cyberterrorism: “When we began our bipartisan conversations regarding the TRIA reauthorization, I emphasized the need to study how this program would react in the aftermath of a cyberattack.

“We don’t know what the threats are or how the threats will evolve over the next seven years, but we do know that America’s public and private infrastructure is under attack every day.

“In the aftermath of 9/11, insurance companies, and policymakers, quickly became aware of the hidden risks that acts of terrorism could pose to their balance sheets. Insurers also realized they would be unable to adequately price this risk, spurring the need for federal assistance.

“What I’m concerned about is this: I’m concerned a largescale cyberattack could pose these same hidden risks to insurers and the market, since we don’t fully understand how the effects of a cyberattack would play out.

“Moreover, the digital capabilities of our adversaries only continue to grow.

“Just look at Russia. In 2015, a Russian cyberattack shut down Ukraine’s power grid for as long as six hours. It’s not just Russia. It’s China, Iran, North Korea. State sponsors of terror want to cause as much damage to the United States as they can.

“It is our duty to make sure that this program is adaptable to respond to any event if a future threat becomes a reality.

“I appreciate the Chair agreeing to include this language in the bill, which ensures the program evolves with our enemies’ attacks.”

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