The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday that would extend the federal government's terrorism insurance backstop program for six years.

The bill, an amended version of a measure passed by the Senate earlier this year — the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2014, S. 2244 — would extend the program for six years and gradually raise the minimum trigger to activate the program to $200 million from the current $100 million.

The bill, which the House passed on 417-7 vote, also would establish a National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers to streamline interstate producer licensing.

The terrorism insurance program, which was created by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, would have expired Dec. 31 if not reauthorized by Congress.

Extending the program has been the legislative priority of the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. and virtually all of the commercial property/casualty insurance industry, underwriters and producers alike.

An earlier version of the bill passed by the House Financial Services Committee but never voted on by the full House would have extended the program for five years while gradually increasing the trigger for most future catastrophic terrorism attacks to $500 million. The earlier, original Senate bill called for a seven-year extension of the program while leaving the $100 million trigger intact.

Both bills would require insurers to bear a greater portion of any losses stemming from a catastrophic terrorist attack.

The bill approved by the House, however, contains language dealing with a noninsurance-related provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Although House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, called the provision a “very technical clarification” in a Wednesday statement, some Senate Democrats have said they will not support any change in Dodd-Frank.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which must approve the bill before the end of the lame-duck session if the program is to be extended yet this year.

Meanwhile, in a statement of administration policy released shortly before Wednesday's vote, the White House said it supports reauthorizing the terrorism insurance program “while making reforms to further reduce taxpayer exposure, increase private sector contributions and better position the program for future transition to the private sector.”

But the statement of policy also said the administration “strongly opposes” modifying Dodd-Frank and “specifically the end user provision, in this TRIA-related bill that has broad bipartisan support.” The end user provision requires companies to put up collateral when trading derivatives and has no connection to insurance issues.

“The main purpose of S. 2244 is to reauthorize the terrorism risk insurance program; this bill should not be used as a vehicle to add entirely unrelated financial regulatory provisions,” the White House said in the statement, though it stopped short of threatening to veto the terrorism backstop bill if it reaches the president's desk.