Dodd hopes to address TRIA issue early

WASHINGTON--The incoming chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee would like to deal with the future of the federal terrorism insurance backstop sooner rather than later.

"We'd like to get something done early," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., at a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday morning. The current program, which is a scaled-back version of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, is slated to expire Dec. 31, 2007.

Sen. Dodd, who will succeed Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., as chairman of the committee in the new Congress, said he does not want merely to extend some version of the program for a limited amount of time.

"My hope would be to get something done on a permanent basis," he said. He noted, however, that there are "philosophical differences" with "the other part of town," a reference to the Bush administration.

The administration, which had vigorously supported the initial TRIA bill, succeeded in scaling back the program's scope as a condition for its extension in December 2005.