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CEOs Call Upon the House Republican Leadership to Promptly Pass Reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA)

July 22, 2014

Members of the Partnership for New York City Call TRIA “a 21st Century Tool that Protects American Jobs and Allows Investments to Continue”

New York City, July 22, 2014 – Today, in a letter sent to Representatives John Boehner (R-OH), Speaker of the House; Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Majority Whip; and Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip-Elect, 117 leaders of some of the nation’s largest employers called on the House Republican leadership to promptly pass reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA).  TRIA was created in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks in order to provide a federal backstop for insurance coverage in the event of catastrophic losses from terrorist attacks.  Business leaders are concerned that if no action is taken by Congress, the program will end this year and terrorism insurance will again become unavailable.  This would pose a particular problem for New York City, the nation’s #1 terrorist target.

America remains vulnerable to international terrorism and TRIA is one of the 21st Century tools that we rely upon to protect American jobs and allow investment to continue, despite the risk of terrorism. With the sunset of this federal program coming up in December, it is already difficult to renew insurance along the lines required by employers and property owners in urban centers.

“As currently designed, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) program works, and is what makes it possible to maintain our vibrant economy in the face of what we all recognize as a significant risk.”

 

(Full Letter to House Republican Leadership)

July 22, 2014

Dear Representatives Boehner, McCarthy, and Scalise:

We write to urge the House of Representatives to quickly pass the Terrorism Risk Insurance Reauthorization Act (TRIA).  America remains vulnerable to international terrorism. “TRIA” is one of the 21st Century tools that we rely upon to protect American jobs and allow investment to continue, despite the risk of terrorism. With the sunset of this federal program coming up in December, it is already difficult to renew insurance along the lines required by employers and property owners in urban centers.

The bill that passed in the Senate last week with overwhelming, bipartisan support provides the federal backstop necessary to allow insurers, employers, and property owners to continue to manage terrorism risk. It is important to the business community in New York City and across the nation that the House act swiftly to pass a bill that maintains a program structure that has proven effective and has had no cost to the federal taxpayer.

We want to continue to work with you to keep our economy growing. TRIA is one of the public-private partnership arrangements that makes continued growth possible.

Sincerely,

Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital

Ajay S. Banga, President & CEO, MasterCard

David Barger, President & CEO, JetBlue Airways Corporation

Candace K. Beinecke, Chair, First Eagle Fund & Chair, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman of the Board & Chairman, Executive Committee, Hearst Corporation

Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC

William H. Berkman, Managing Partner, Associated Partners, LP

Mark T. Bertolini, Chairman, CEO & President, Aetna Inc.

Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Management

Michael C. Bodson, President & CEO, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation

Frank Branchini, Chairman & CEO, EmblemHealth Services LLC

Jacques Brand, Chief Executive Officer, North America, Deutsche Bank Americas

Tory Burch, Chief Executive Officer, Tory Burch LLC

Ursula M. Burns, Chairman & CEO, Xerox Corporation

Michael A. Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer, Ally Financial Inc.

Gregory C. Case, Chief Executive Officer, Aon plc

Dominic J. Casserley, Chief Executive Officer, Willis Group Holdings, Plc

John Catsimatidis, Chairman & CEO, Red Apple Group, Inc.

Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company

Jane A. Chmielinski, Chief Operating Officer & President, Americas, AECOM

Richard B. Clark, Chairman & Global Head of Real Estate, Brookfield Office Properties Inc.

H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Creighton Condon, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling

Philippe P. Dauman, President and CEO, Viacom Inc.

Anthony J. de Nicola, Co-President, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture

Barry Diller, Chairman & Senior Executive, IAC

Daniel L. Doctoroff, President & CEO, Bloomberg L.P.

Irene M. Dorner, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

Richard W. Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Senior Partner, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Andrew Farkas, Chairman & CEO, Island Capital Group LLC

Roger W. Ferguson, President & CEO, TIAA-CREF

Joseph R. Ficalora, President & CEO, New York Community Bancorp, Inc.

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock, Inc.

Alan H. Fishman, Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance LLC

William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC

Edward C. Forst, President & CEO, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

Russell P. Fradin, Chief Executive Officer, SunGard

Eric J. Friedman, Managing Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Mark T. Gallogly, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

MaryAnne Gilmartin, President & CEO, Forest City Ratner Companies

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Jonathan N. Grayer, President & CEO, Weld North LLC

Robert Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

James H. Herbert, II, Chairman & CEO (Founding), First Republic Bank

Marc Holliday, President & CEO, SL Green Realty Corp.

Steven Holliday, Chief Executive Officer, National Grid

Stephen R. Howe, Jr., Americas Area Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Jeffrey Katz, President & CEO, Sherwood Equities Inc.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman & CEO, Alcoa Inc.

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

Joseph M. Leccese, Chairman, Proskauer

Richard S. LeFrak, Chairman & CEO, The LeFrak Organization

Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development

Pamela Liebman, President & CEO, The Corcoran Group, Inc.

Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman, President & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.

Bridget A. Macaskill, President & CEO, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Peter L. Malkin, Chairman Emeritus, Empire State Realty Trust

Joel S. Marcus, Chairman, CEO & Founder, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Donald B. Marron, Chairman, Lightyear Capital

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

John McAvoy, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison

Sherilyn McCoy, Chief Executive Officer, Avon Products, Inc.

Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr., President & CEO, Moody’s Investors Service

Mitchell Modell, Chief Executive Officer, Modell’s Sporting Goods

Kenneth D. Moelis, Chief Executive Officer, Moelis & Company Holdings LP

Robert E. Moritz, Chairman & Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

Atsushi Nakajima, President & CEO, Rockefeller Group International, Inc.

Richard D. Parsons, Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners

Ronald Perelman, Chairman & CEO, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

Douglas L. Peterson, President & CEO, McGraw Hill Financial

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Infor

Deidre Quinn, President & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Ian C. Read, Chairman of the Board & CEO, Pfizer Inc.

Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC

Thomas J. Reid, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Daniel W. Riordan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Corporate, North America, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd

James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures

Julio E. Rojas, Chief Executive Officer, Americas, Standard Chartered Bank

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Chairman & CEO, WL Ross & Co. LLC

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Howard J. Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Associates, Inc.

William C. Rudin, Vice Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Chairman & Founder, Gilt

Alexander Saint-Amand, Chief Executive Officer, GLG

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Barry F. Schwartz, Executive Vice Chairman & Chief Administrative Officer, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

Frank J. Sciame, Chairman & CEO, F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.

Michael C. Slocum, President, Commercial Banking, Capital One Bank

James C. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters

J. Eric Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Re Americas

Tad Smith, President & CEO, The Madison Square Garden Company

Jerry I. Speyer, Chairman & Co-CEO, Tishman Speyer

Arthur P. Steinmetz, President & CEO, OppenheimerFunds, Inc.

Mark Thompson, President & CEO, The New York Times Company

Mary Ann Tighe, Chief Executive Officer, NY Tri-State Region, CBRE, Inc.

James S. Tisch, President & CEO, Loews Corporation

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chair, Tishman Realty Partners

John B. Veihmeyer, Chairman & CEO, KPMG LLP

George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

Christopher J. Williams, Chairman & CEO, The Williams Capital Group, L.P.

Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors, LLC

Douglas M. Woodham, President, Americas, Christie’s

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

Tim Zagat, Co-Chair, Zagat Survey LLC

Strauss Zelnick, Chief Executive Officer, ZelnickMedia Corporation

Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, USNews & World Report; Chairman & Publisher, NY Daily News; Chairman, Boston Properties

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About the Partnership for New York City

The Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org) engages the CEOs of the City’s 200 largest employers in efforts to advance the New York City economy and maintain the City’s position as the center of world commerce, finance and innovation. Through the Partnership Fund for New York City, the Partnership supports promising NYC-based entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economy.

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Press Contact:

Kimberly Spell

(212) 493-7511

kspell@pfnyc.org