Cite as: 525 U. S. 299 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
Congress had meant generally to preempt the field for the States, Congress could have said, as the Ninth Circuit noted: "No federal statute [that does not say so explicitly] shall be construed to apply to the business of insurance." Merchants Home, 50 F. 3d, at 1492 (emphasis in original) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 24 ("The Act does not declare that 'No Act of Congress shall apply to the business of insurance unless such Act specifically relates thereto.' "). Alternatively, Congress could have provided, as it did with respect to the Sherman, Clayton, and Federal Trade Commission Acts, see 15 U. S. C. § 1012(b), that federal legislation generally, or RICO in particular, would be "applicable to the business of insurance [only] to the extent that such business is not regulated by State Law," ibid. (emphasis added).
Moreover, § 2(b)'s second prohibition bears attention in this regard. That proscription, barring construction of federal statutes to "invalidate, impair, or supersede" "any [state] law . . . which imposes a fee or tax upon [the business of insurance]," belies any congressional intent to preclude federal regulation merely because the regulation imposes liability additional to, or greater than, state law. Were this not so, federal law would "impair" state insurance laws imposing fees or taxes whenever federal law imposed additional fees or greater tax liability. Under our federal system of dual taxation, however, it is scarcely in doubt that "generally applicable federal fees and taxes do not 'invali-date, impair, or supersede' state insurance taxes and fees within the meaning of Section 2(b) where nothing precludes insurers from paying both." Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 26.
While we reject any sort of field preemption, we also reject the polar opposite of that view, i. e., that Congress intended a green light for federal regulation whenever the federal law does not collide head on with state regulation. The dictionary definition of "impair" is "[t]o weaken, to make
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