| Contact: |
Tita Thompson |
|
(202) 872-1260 |
| Release Date: |
11/20/2002 |
Washington,
DC — John J. Castellani,
President of The Business Roundtable, issued the following
statement today, praising Congress for its passage of H.R.
3210, the Terrorism Risk Protection Act Conference
Report:
The Business
Roundtable believes that the economy has been tepid as a
result of a number of economic and geopolitical uncertainties.
The lack of affordable and available terrorism insurance for
many large real estate and construction projects has
exacerbated these uncertainties and prevented the U.S. economy
from operating at its full growth potential.
Terrorism
insurance is a timely economic incentive that will help keep
the U.S. economy moving by giving a green light to important
construction projects and real estate transactions. The
Business Roundtable applauds Congress for acting to protect
the economy and to prevent property owners hurt by terrorists
from being victimized by litigation abuse.
With this backstop, American companies
can resume nearly $4 billion in construction projects
involving critical infrastructure, power plants,
transportation, and the real estate sector – all of which are
vital to our nation’s economy, providing for 300,000 American
jobs. In addition, we can look forward to the resumption of
much of the $15 billion in real estate transactions that were
cancelled or delayed because of security concerns before the
bill was passed.
The Business
Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of
leading corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10
million employees in the United States and $3.7 trillion in
revenues. The chief executives are committed to advocating
public policies that foster vigorous economic growth and a
dynamic global economy.