Improving Strategies to Counter Weapons Proliferation Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6332) to require the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to submit a report to Congress on the way in which data collected pursuant to title 31 is being used, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the consideration of this important measure on the floor here today. The work of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee on Financial Services has uncovered time and again that the activities of terrorists and criminal organizations are powered through financing and that illicit operations cannot continue if the revenue streams that fund those operations are shut off.

The measure before the House today would provide greater clarity into how exactly the global financial system can cut off financial schemes that enable access to illicit nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

H.R. 6332, the Improving Strategies to Counter Weapons Proliferation Act, would study how our financial institutions, intelligence collecting agencies, and law enforcement share information regarding known weapons financing activities to better identify weapons financing schemes.

To effectively prevent the spread of dangerous weapons into the hands of bad actors like terrorists, we must close the gaps that allow those bad actors to take advantage of the global financial system. The ever- increasing number of threats posed by foreign adversaries and dangerous organizations make it all the more important to close those gaps now. By helping financial institutions and law enforcement better identify the signs of illicit proliferation financing through this bill, these institutions will be able to maximize the effectiveness of their information and more easily coordinate strategies that disrupt and ultimately prevent dangerous crime.

In the United States, we have robust protections in place to be able to prevent financing of weapons proliferation involving suspicious activity reports that go to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and get reported over to law enforcement. By requiring FinCEN to report yearly to Congress on intelligence products it generates from suspicious activity filings on weapons finance transactions as well as how those intelligence products have informed law enforcement action, we can learn the indicators for proliferation finance and move to more effectively combat those illicit financial activities.

The bill before the House of Representatives today is a good first step in making sure the financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and Congress have the tools that they need to be able to combat financing for illicit weapons proliferation, and I urge its passage here today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6332, the Improving Strategies to Counter Weapons Proliferation Act, which aims to better inform congressional oversight of FinCEN's counter-proliferation finance efforts.

With proliferation threats growing from countries like North Korea and Iran, the reports prescribed by this bill will tell Congress more about the terrorist financing and anti-money laundering work that FinCEN is doing to combat the financing of the manufacture and delivery of weapons of mass destruction.

This bill will require the director to report on the intelligence FinCEN generates from the Bank Secrecy Act filings on suspected proliferation finance transactions; the agency's efforts to maximize the use of collected data; and the advisory notices issued to financial institutions related to the financing of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons.

Prior to the Financial Services Committee vote, the ACLU expressed some concern, in part because the bill's report doesn't include details on the efficacy of FinCEN's data collection or its impact on privacy and civil liberties.

That said, I understand that the ACLU does not actively oppose the bill.

Given the legislation is focused on how FinCEN uses the data it currently collects, it does not expand the data collection. I think that that bill is appropriately scoped, and I support it.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I ask for a ``yes'' vote, and I urge my colleagues to support it as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.