The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), the sole national association representing all segments of the 1.8 million-employee lodging industry, issued a statement following introduction of legislation to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for a period of seven years:

"With a December 31 deadline looming on the horizon for the current TRIA reauthorization, hoteliers are faced with growing uncertainty that their existing terrorism insurance coverage will not be extended," said Katherine Lugar, AH&LA president/CEO. "Since its inception in 2002, this program has provided a valuable backstop for policy holders whose terrorism coverage had become cost prohibitive or in some instances unavailable. More importantly, taxpayers will not be responsible for paying any first dollar losses in the event of a future attack, with TRIA only being triggered once insurer loss thresholds are met. We thank Senators Schumer, Heller, Kirk, Reed, Murphy, Johanns, Warner, Blunt, and Menendez for their outstanding leadership in introducing this extension bill and hope it serves as a starting point for an immediate conversation on the importance of preserving this important program and its economic benefits."