WASHINGTON — The House has given a lopsided yes to extending the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, the post-9/11 backstop that keeps commercial terrorism coverage on the books even though it has never paid a claim.
Members approved H.R. 7128, the TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026, by a 373–15 vote. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, sponsored the bill. It would push the program’s sunset from Dec. 31, 2027, to 2034 — a seven-year extension — and now sits with the Senate, where a companion measure has been introduced.
Congress built TRIA after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when private insurers retreated from terrorism risk and commercial markets froze. The design is simple. Insurers must offer terrorism coverage. If a certified act of terrorism produces losses above statutory thresholds, the Treasury Department shares the cost. Carriers take the first losses. Washington is supposed to appear only when an event is large enough to threaten the market.
That trigger has never been pulled. Supporters cite the empty claims file as the point: the program’s value is the certainty it gives lenders and developers, not a history of checks.
House Financial Services Chairman Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., returned to the statute during floor debate. “The purpose of TRIA is spelled out in the original law,” he said. The law, he noted, calls for “a transparent system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses resulting from acts of terrorism in order to protect consumers.” The practical aim, Hill said, is to give policyholders “the financial protection they need and the confidence they need to build skyscrapers, sports venues, and malls, and employ workers that drive our economy.”
Flood argued that an unused backstop still needs a tighter charter. “This legislation would reauthorize TRIA … through 2034,” he said. “We are so fortunate that we have never seen a TRIA claim in the program’s entire history, and I hope that we never, ever see one. However, if this program is going to continue to exist with a public backstop, we should ensure we update its charter to protect taxpayers in the event of future claims, and we should work to ensure the certification process is transparent.”
The bill tries to do both. Beginning in 2029, an event would need at least $10 million in insured losses to be certified for program purposes, up from $5 million. Treasury would also get clearer statutory authority to tell the public when it is deciding whether an incident qualifies as terrorism under TRIA.
Industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Bankers Association backed the renewal. Their case is commercial, not theoretical: banks are more willing to finance office towers, arenas and infrastructure when terrorism coverage is reliably available. Without a federal backstop, analysts have warned that insurers could again limit or price that coverage out of reach in big cities and at high-profile sites.
Supporters describe the threshold increase as a taxpayer protection. A higher bar means smaller events are less likely to pull the government in, while the core guarantee for truly catastrophic losses remains.
Construction, property management, retail and hospitality all depend on that guarantee in ways that are easy to miss until coverage disappears. The House vote does not finish the job. The Senate still has to act, and the current law still expires in 2027 if nothing is signed. What the House did was restate a bargain that has lasted more than two decades: private markets write the policies, the federal government stands behind only certified catastrophe, and commercial America keeps building on the assumption that terrorism insurance will still be there.
