H.R. 5840, a bill that would create an Office of Insurance Information at the Treasury Department, has been pulled off the House floor.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., decided tonight to yank the OII bill off the “suspension calendar,” which is used to consider what appear to be uncontroversial bills, after Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a lawmaker from a neighboring district who is serving her first term in Congress, raised questions about how the bill would affect California insurance rate regulation.
Members of the House did pass H.R. 5611, a bill that would change non-resident agent licensing by creating a National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers.
H.R. 5611 likely will go to the Senate Banking Committee for further action.
Members of the House plan to leave town Sept. 26, and members of the Senate plan to leave in early October.
At this point, it is not clear whether Congress will have time to send either H.R. 5840 or H.R. 5611 to President Bush, or whether it will have time to iron out the differences between the House and Senate National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization bills.
Earlier today, the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, wrote to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to suggest that, in the wake of the government’s efforts to help American International Group Inc., New York, the Bush administration should use the authority it already has to establish the OII.