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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
WASHINGTON—Tuesday’s election results mean there will be changes at the top of the U.S. House panel that has jurisdiction over insurance matters.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., is in line to become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, while Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., is in line to succeed Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa. as chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.
Rep. Kanjorski, who advocated establishing a federal insurance office and was among the strongest backers of a federal terrorism insurance backstop, was one of several congressmen associated with insurance issues who suffered defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Formerly president of the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., who pushed for pension funding relief in Congress, also was defeated.
And Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., a sharp critic of the insurance industry who advocated requiring the National Flood Insurance Program to offer windstorm as well as flood coverage, lost his re-election bid.
Although Democrats retained their majority in the U.S. Senate, there will be a change at the top of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee as well. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chose not to seek re-election. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is next in line to assume the chairmanship.
Sen. Johnson is the co-sponsor of legislation that would allow insurers and producers to choose an optional federal charter.