Cite as: 508 U. S. 491 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
the Court applied the federal priority statute only when the State had not specifically legislated the priority of claims. 298 U. S., at 549-550 ("But it is settled that an inchoate lien is not enough to defeat the [Federal Government's] priority . . . . Unless the law of Florida effected . . . either a transfer of title from the company, or a specific perfected lien in favor of the Florida creditors, the United States is entitled to priority"). Moreover, other cases issued at the same time reached a different result. See, e. g., Conway v. Imperial Life Ins. Co., 207 La. 285, 21 So. 2d 151 (1945) (Louisiana statute specifically providing that deposited securities are held by state treasurer in trust for benefit and protection of policyholders supersedes federal priority statute).
More importantly, petitioners' interpretation of the statute is at odds with its plain language. The McCarran-Ferguson Act did not simply overrule South-Eastern Underwriters and restore the status quo. To the contrary, it transformed the legal landscape by overturning the normal rules of preemption. Ordinarily, a federal law supersedes any inconsistent state law. The first clause of § 2(b) reverses this by imposing what is, in effect, a clear-statement rule, a rule that state laws enacted "for the purpose of regulating the business of insurance" do not yield to conflicting federal statutes unless a federal statute specifically requires otherwise. That Congress understood the effect of its language becomes apparent when we examine other parts of the legislative history.7 The second clause of § 2(b) also broke new ground: It
7 Elaborating upon the purpose animating the first clause of § 2(b) of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, Senator Ferguson observed:
"What we have in mind is that the insurance business, being interstate commerce, if we merely enact a law relating to interstate commerce, or if there is a law now on the statute books relating in some way to interstate commerce, it would not apply to insurance. We wanted to be sure that the Congress, in its wisdom, would act specifically with reference to insurance in enacting the law." 91 Cong. Rec. 1487 (1945). This passage later confirms that "no existing law and no future law should, by mere implication, be applied to the business of insurance" (statement of Mr. Mahoney). Ibid.
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