Lawmakers Sculpt TRIA Deal %28Updated%29

The group life industry has been struggling to regroup.

By Tuesday evening, it had won the support of at least 6 senators for a letter asking TRIA extension negotiators to "include group life insurance as a covered line in the … program."

But a spokesman for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., one of the senators who agreed to sign the letter, made clear that none of those signing on to the letter had agreed to put a hold on the bill–effectively killing it–if group life were not included as a covered item in a final bill.

The document, prepared by the staff of the House Financial Services Committee for submission to Senate negotiators as the opening gambit in TRIA extension talks, in effect adopts the bulk of the Senate bill, which is much narrower than the bill passed by the House last week by a 371-49 vote.

The House bill is now known as S. 467.

The House is accepting Senate positions on 21 of the 25 areas in which the House and Senate TRIA bills diverge and proposing compromise language for 3 others, according to the compromise document.

One of the industry lobbyists involved in the House preparation for the meeting agreed that the House proposal to the Senate constitute surrender to the much narrower Senate bill.

"But the document has to be looked at in the context of the stubborn unwillingness of the Senate to entertain regular order in a formal conference setting to work out the differences between the 2 bills," the lobbyist says.

"In this document, Chairman Oxley is willing to surrender much of the distinctions in the House bill in order to ensure policyholders are protected as of Jan. 1, 2006," the lobbyist said. "This shows the magnanimous desire of Chairman Oxley to get this bill to the finish line."