New Congress sends first bill to Obama, extending terrorism risk fund

The first bill from the new Republican-led Congress -- extending a federal terrorism risk insurance fund -- is on its way to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

The program, which was started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is especially important to urban builders, had lapsed last year.

At the time, Democrats objected to a Republican move to tack on an unrelated provision that loosens Wall Street reforms that had been put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

The provision remained in the new version of the legislation. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has built a career trying to rein in the financial services industry, sought to remove the provision in a vote Thursday, but was rebuffed.

The terrorism risk program easily cleared the Senate on a vote of 93-4 after having swiftly passed the House, 416-5, earlier in the week.

The White House had objected to the Wall Street provision, but stopped short of threatening a veto.

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