Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Chair, I would like to thank Chairman Crenshaw and Ranking Member Serrano for including my amendment into the en bloc amendment to H.R. 5485, the FY2017 Financial Services Appropriations Act.

I offered this amendment to increase the funding provided to the Treasury Department's Office of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by $3,300,000. By sharing financial intelligence with law enforcement, private industry, and its foreign counterparts, FinCEN supports financial crime investigations throughout the world. Terrorists' proven ability to move money through innovative means necessitates continued progress in this critical counterterrorism area. The $3,300,000 is needed to enhance FinCEN's supervisory strategy of Money Services Businesses and to meet the growing demand for FinCEN's expanded national security response efforts.

The amendment would offset this necessary increase through corresponding decreases in the funding provided for the ``Rental of Space'' account within the General Services Administration.

Through my work as Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee's Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing and the Co- Chair of the bipartisan Task Force on Anti-Terrorism & Proliferation Financing, I witnessed the vital work that FinCEN engages in to safeguard our financial system from evolving money laundering and national security threats. By analyzing financial intelligence and sharing it with law enforcement, private industry, and its foreign counterparts, FinCEN supports financial crime investigations throughout the world.

At this time, FinCEN needs additional funding to enhance its supervisory strategy of Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and to establish a specialized response team to focus on high priority threats. This is important because banks are increasingly derisking by exiting the MSB market due to the high risks associated with MSB customers. For example, this is making it nearly impossible for families, charities, and businesses to send remittances to people in Somalia. A specialized response team will encourage banks to more consistently service the financial needs of the MSB market that is seen as higher risk.

In addition, FinCEN could use these additional funds to meet the growing demand for its expanded national security response efforts. FinCEN continues to support the broader Department of Treasury efforts by identifying sources of revenue for organizations such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and their attempts to access the international financial system. However, without adequate funding FinCEN will be unable to meet the demand for expanded intelligence reporting and increased investigations into terrorism finance.

As evidenced by recent support to the Paris and Belgium terrorists attack investigations, FinCEN's expertise assisted in quickly identifying links between the two attacks. FinCEN published 51 reports related to the Paris attacks and 2 reports related to the Brussels attack Many of these reports were generated through engagement with financial institutions by FinCEN, which resulted in increased reports from U.S. financial institutions. Moreover, FinCEN's financial intelligence has played an important role in identifying potential foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs).

With today's increasingly complex and rapidly evolving terrorist networks, we cannot risk our national security by not adequately funding this important Department.

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