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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Thu Jan 08, 2015 at 12:30 PM PST<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/08/1356422/-Which-12-Senate-Ds-Helped-Senate-Rs-Block-an-Amendment-from-Elizabeth-Warren-to-Protect-Dodd-Frank"><span style='color:blue'>Which Senate Dems Helped Senate Rs Block an Amendment from Elizabeth Warren to Protect Dodd-Frank?</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Today, the Senate voted to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, which serves as a bailout guarantee for big businesses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Here's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/19/congress-renews-tria-terrorism-insurance-bill"><span style='color:blue'>David Dayen</span></a> on this bipartisan-approved corporate welfare program:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act provides a government backstop to insurance companies in the event of a terrorist attack. Tria arrived in the wake of the September 11 attacks, when it arose as a way for the government to protect the insurance companies from taking huge losses that would put them out of business after a terrorist attack. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The rationale behind Tria is simple. Previously, there was no contract by which companies could protect themselves from terrorism costs. That was a disaster when the insured loss for 9-11 approached $40bn, with most of it paid by insurance companies and the firms who insure them, known as reinsurers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The appeal is clear – to insurers, who have been raking in cash. Over 60% of all businesses have purchased government-subsidized terrorism insurance since 2002. The program has cost the government $1m a year – almost nothing – but has made an estimated $40bn in revenue for insurance companies, who have never paid a claim, or given a dime to the government for their reinsurance protection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>(Read the full article for a more in-depth explanation). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The bill just voted on reauthorizes the program for six more years and raises the threshold for the government to begin paying out terrorism insurance claims from $100 million to $200 million.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Republicans, in TRIA reauthorization negotiations last year, decided that they wanted to sweeten the corporate welfare pot some more by rolling back part of Dodd-Frank, particularly by exempting non-financial companies from having to follow the same derivative regulations as banks. The <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/08/1356422/www.whitehouse.gov/sites/.../saps2244s_20141210.pdf"><span style='color:blue'>White House</span></a> has expressed its disapproval of this addition to the bill</span><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> but has not issued a veto threat because of it:</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Broadening Dodd-Frank’s statutory exemptions is a complicated issue with serious implications for the health and stability of the Nation’s financial markets. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>During the Senate vote on TRIA reauthorization, Elizabeth Warren decided to offer an amendment to strip this unrelated Dodd-Frank rollback provision from the bill. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Senate proceeded to vote her amendment down <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=1&vote=00001"><span style='color:blue'>66 to 31</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>All of the Republicans in attendance voted against it, and 13 members of the Democratic caucus joined them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Who were the 13?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Michael Bennet (D-CO)<br>Tom Carper (D-DE)<br>Bob Casey (D-PA)<br>Joe Donnelly (D-IN)<br>Martin Heinrich (D-NM)<br>Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)<br>Angus King (I-ME)<br>Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)<br>Joe Manchin (D-WV)<br>Claire McCaskill (D-MO)<br>Gary Peters (D-MI)<br>Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)<br>Jon Tester (D-MT)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Keep your eye on them because they will likely be the Democratic turncoats who help the GOP get to 60 on their various deregulatory bills over the next two years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>After killing Warren's amendment, the Senate voted on the full TRIA reauthorization bill. It passed easily <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=1&vote=00002"><span style='color:blue'>93 to 4</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The four NO votes were Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>