National Strategy for Combating the Financing of Transnational Criminal Organizations Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Mr. Kustoff's bill, the National Strategy for Combating the Financing of Transnational Criminal Organizations Act.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for his leadership on this important issue, even if it does have a really, really long name.

I have seen firsthand how these transnational drug cartels can disrupt civil society. In my own district, the opioid epidemic has destroyed innocent people's lives, including kids, while transnational criminal organizations, or TCOs, profit on people's misery and their death.

TCOs have brought heroin to our streets and, along with it, increased crime, placing additional burdens on law enforcement in local communities.

We are in crisis mode, and targeted steps need to be taken to address this epidemic at all phases. We have to crack down on the pusher on the street. We have to crack down on the drug cartels. We have to crack down on the drug companies that have made a profit from overprescription and filling suspect orders.

Most of all, we have to crack down on the intricate faceless and unbelievably complex international criminal organizations that allow the profits from these activities into our economy.

We must eradicate the international illicit financing networks that are the linchpin of any criminal organization's operations. But we don't have a unified national plan.

Luckily, this committee has an opportunity to make a difference by coming up with a national strategy and plan to attack transnational criminal organizations' finances.

Mr. Kustoff's bill would direct the Secretary of the Treasury to provide that plan, a vital first step towards addressing the threat posed by the growing sophistication of illicit financing networks.

Passing this bill is a significant step toward an effective, sustained national strategy to attack the funding that makes these TCOs possible.

Therefore, it is critical that we continue to maximize cooperation among Federal departments to keep our policies ahead of these transnational criminals.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of Mr. Kustoff's timely and important piece of legislation.

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