Left on the Senate floor was a House-passed bill that would have doled out to the insurance industry $100 billion in terrorism-coverage loans. Jeff DeBoer, president of the Washington, DC-based Real Estate Roundtable, states that the Senate was close "to final negotiations" when the clock ran out.

"Right now, insurance companies are regulated by the states, and the states tell them what kind of coverage to write if they want to do business there," explains DeBoer. "The states are granting those exclusions. That's going to increase the risk premiums for debt and equity participants."

DeBoer, whose group is part of an industry coalition that is lobbying for the reform, is confident that the debate will be taken up again when Congress opens again for business, but by then, the deadline will be gone for policy renewals. "The game will start again," he states. "Assuming there is some evidence of market disruption, the issue will be at the forefront." Unfortunately, he says, there is bound to be market disruption since "70% of property or casualty insurance policies come due on Jan. 1."