Tom Waring, the Wire
U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick joined Reps. Stephen F. Lynch and Robert Pittenger in introducing a bipartisan package of bills to strengthen global anti-terrorist financing strategies and activities.
The bills were introduced after two years of hearings and investigations.
“Money is like oxygen to terrorists — they cannot survive without it,” Fitzpatrick said. “The bills we’ve introduced provide a clear blueprint to adapt our fight to further ensure that terror groups, such as ISIS, Hezbollah and Boko Haram, are unable to financially support their operations. The bills are key to a necessary, enhanced strategy against a growing, global threat.”
The legislation introduced includes bills requiring the president to develop and publish an all-encompassing government strategy to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, promoting coordination among the pertinent federal agencies; enhancing a number of tools that the Treasury Department uses in its efforts to combat the financing of terror, money laundering and related illicit finance; establishing a payment of rewards to individuals who provide information that leads to the freezing or recovering of funds stolen from developing countries through corruption; and authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to include all funds when issuing certain geographic targeting orders, including funds involved an electronic fund transfer.
