(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
National Strategy for Combating Terrorist, Underground, and Other Illicit Financing Act
(Sec. 3) This bill directs the President, acting through the Department of the Treasury, to develop a national strategy for combating the financing of terrorism and related forms of illicit finance.
(Sec. 4) The national strategy shall focus upon selected aspects, including: (1) threats, goals, objectives, and priorities; (2) coordination with domestic and international governmental entities; (3) the role of the private financial sector in prevention of illicit finance; (4) project and budget priorities; (5) the use and role of Treasury attaches; (6) illicit finance and cyber crime; and (7) technology.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5594 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5594
To require the establishment of a national strategy for combating the
financing of terrorism and related financial crimes, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 28, 2016
Mr. Fitzpatrick (for himself, Ms. Sinema, and Ms. Velazquez) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the establishment of a national strategy for combating the
financing of terrorism and related financial crimes, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Strategy for Combating
Terrorist, Underground, and Other Illicit Financing Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The financing of terrorism and related forms of illicit
finance present a direct threat to national security and a
threat to global stability.
(2) New terrorist groups or threats can form quickly, and
other groups change tactics to adapt, creating a constantly
changing terrorist environment, presenting ever-changing risks
and challenges to programs to disrupt the financing of
terrorism and related forms of illicit finance.
(3) As demonstrated in hearings before the Task Force to
Investigate Terrorism Financing, terrorists in some instances
have formed symbiotic relationships with, or are taking over,
transnational crime syndicates, so that funding for both
terrorism and profits from crime flow in the same fashion and
often are indistinguishable.
(4) Methods of concealing the movement of illicit funding
change quickly in a globalized economy, and rapid technological
changes and financial innovation pose new risks that may be
increasingly difficult for governments to stay abreast of
without an agile, constantly adjusted strategy to spot,
disrupt, and prevent the financing of terrorism and related
forms of illicit finance.
(5) A bipartisan requirement to create a national anti-
money laundering strategy enacted in 1998 expired in 2007.
Given the rapid globalization and rapid technology changes of
the financial sector, an updated strategy focused on the
financing of terrorism is necessary.
(6) It is important for the Government to have a unified
strategy to fight financial crime and to update it annually,
both to accommodate new and developing threats and to help
Congress develop legislative and funding priorities.
(7) An effective strategy to counter terrorism financing is
a critical component of the broader counter terrorism strategy
of the United States.
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL STRATEGY.
(a) In General.--The President, acting through the Secretary of the
Treasury (the ``Secretary'') shall, in consultation with the Attorney
General, the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, the
Director of National Intelligence and the appropriate Federal banking
agencies, develop a national strategy for combating the financing of
terrorism and related forms of illicit finance.
(b) Transmittal to Congress.--By June 1 each year following the
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a national strategy developed in
accordance with subsection (a)
(c) Evaluation of Existing Efforts and Broader Strategy.--The
President shall accompany each strategy submitted under subsection (b)
with a report that--
(1) describes the effectiveness of efforts to enforce
existing prohibitions against illicit finance;
(2) describes how the United States is addressing the
highest levels of risk identified in the National Money
Laundering Risk Assessment and the National Terrorist Financing
Risk Assessment published by the Department of the Treasury;
(3) evaluates the effectiveness of United States efforts to
fight illicit finance at actually preventing, discovering, and
countering terrorist financing and other forms of illicit
finance (and the effectiveness of those efforts that the United
States coordinates with foreign nations); and
(4) describes how the strategy submitted under subsection
(b) is integrated into, and supports, the broader counter
terrorism strategy of the United States.
(d) Separate Presentation of Classified Material.--Any part of the
national strategy that involves information which is properly
classified under criteria established by the President shall be
submitted to the Congress separately in a classified annex and, if
requested by the chairman or ranking Member of one of the appropriate
congressional committees, as a briefing at an appropriate level of
security.
SEC. 4. CONTENTS.
(a) In General.--The strategy described under section 3 shall
contain, at a minimum, the following:
(1) Threats, goals, objectives, and priorities.--A
comprehensive, research-based, long-range, quantifiable
discussion of threats, goals, objectives, and priorities for
disrupting, preventing and reducing the number, dollar value,
and effects of illicit finance in the United States and foreign
countries that impact the security of the United States.
(2) Coordination.--A discussion of methods to best
coordinate such efforts with international, State, and local
officials, law enforcement, regulators, and financial
institutions.
(3) Reviews and proposed changes.--Reviews of enforcement
efforts, relevant regulations and relevant provisions of law
and, when appropriate, discussions of proposed changes
determined to be appropriate to ensure that the United States
pursues coordinated and effective efforts at all levels of
government in the fight against illicit finance and with
international partners.
(4) Detection and prosecution initiatives.--A description
of efforts to improve detection and prosecution of illicit
finance, including efforts to ensure that--
(A) subject to legal restrictions, all appropriate
data collected by the Government that is relevant to
the efforts described in this Act be available in a
timely fashion to all appropriate Federal departments
and agencies and, as appropriate and consistent with
section 314 of the USA PATRIOT Act, to financial
institutions to assist them in efforts to comply with
laws aimed at curbing illicit finance; and
(B) appropriate efforts are undertaken to ensure
that Federal departments and agencies charged with
reducing and preventing illicit finance make thorough
use of publicly available data in furtherance of this
effort.
(5) The role of the private financial sector in prevention
of illicit finance.--A discussion of ways to enhance
partnerships between the private financial sector and Federal
departments and agencies with regard to the prevention and
detection of illicit money laundering finance, including--
(A) efforts to facilitate compliance with laws
aimed at stopping such illicit finance while
maintaining the effectiveness of such efforts; and
(B) providing incentives to strengthen internal
controls and to adopt on an industry-wide basis more
effective policies.
(6) Enhancement of intergovernmental cooperation.--A
discussion of ways to combat illicit finance by enhancing--
(A) cooperative efforts between Federal, State, and
local officials, including State and local prosecutors
and other law enforcement officials;
(B) to the extent possible, cooperative efforts
among States and between State and local officials,
including State and local regulators, prosecutors, and
law enforcement officials; and
(C) cooperative efforts with and between
governments of countries and with and between
multinational institutions with expertise in fighting
illicit finance.
(7) Project and budget priorities.--A 3-year projection for
program and budget priorities and achievable projects for
reductions in illicit finance.
(8) Assessment of funding.--A complete assessment of how
the proposed budget described under paragraph (7) is intended
to implement the strategy described in this Act and whether the
funding levels contained in the proposed budget are sufficient
to implement the strategy, including a discussion of the extent
to which funding for such efforts is or should be funded from
fines, settlements, seizures or forfeitures related to illicit
finance.
(9) Trend analysis.--Data regarding trends in illicit
finance, with a special focus on the funding of terrorism.
(10) Enforcement report.--A report containing an evaluation
of the enforcement of policies to combat illicit finance.
(11) Enforcement.--A discussion of the current policies of
the United States to enforce the provisions of the Bank Secrecy
Act and related laws regarding the financing of terrorism and
other forms of illicit finance, together with recommendations
for improving enforcement.
(12) Treasury attaches.--A discussion of the Department of
the Treasury attaches, including--
(A) a list of embassies where Department of the
Treasury attaches are posted and a discussion of their
effectiveness in the fight against illicit finance;
(B) a list of the United States embassies at which
a Department of the Treasury attache is assigned for
temporary duty, the length of such assignments, and the
reason why such assignments are not considered to be
permanent assignments;
(C) how the Department of the Treasury's interests
relating to economic and anti-terror finance issues are
handled at other embassies, including a discussion of
the reporting structure by which such issues are
brought to the direct attention of the ambassador; and
(D) the effect of not having more attaches in
embassies that are most vulnerable to illicit finance
threats and a discussion of whether the Department of
the Treasury's economic or anti-illicit finance issues
are thought to be under-represented in some embassies
or regions.
(13) Illicit finance and cyber crime.--A discussion of
terrorist financing and other forms of illicit finance that
involve cyber attacks, evolving forms of value transfer,
including so-called ``crypto currencies'', and other methods
that are computer, telecommunications, or internet-based.
(14) Technology.--An analysis of current and developing
ways to leverage technology to improve the effectiveness of the
fight against the financing of terror and other forms of
illicit finance, including the use of ``big data'' analytics,
the merging of publicly sourced data with Bank Secrecy Act data
and with other forms of secure Government data to increase such
effectiveness, and ways to enhance the role of the private
sector in combating illicit finance.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Financial Services, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on
Armed Services, Committee on Homeland Security, and the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs, Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on
Armed Services, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the
Senate.
(2) Appropriate federal banking agencies.--The term
``appropriate Federal banking agencies'' has the meaning given
that term under section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
(12 U.S.C. 1813).
(3) Bank secrecy act.--The term ``Bank Secrecy Act''
means--
(A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Act;
(B) chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91-508; and
(C) subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United
States Code.
(4) Illicit finance.--The term ``illicit finance'' means
the financing of terrorism, money laundering, and other forms
of illicit or underground financing or other illicit finance
domestically and internationally, as defined by the President.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, and each territory or
possession of the United States.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Mr. Fitzpatrick moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4583-4586)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5594.
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H4583-4584)
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4583-4584)
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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