Foreign Affiliates Sharing Pilot Program Extension Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 5524, the Foreign Affiliates Sharing Pilot Program Extension Act. In January 2021, Congress successfully overrode Trump's veto to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, also known as NDAA, which is our Nation's annual Defense bill. This included the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, the first significant change to America's anti- money laundering and financial-based terrorism policy since 9/11.

Our bipartisan goal in passing the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 was to improve the deterrence and detection of financial crime by promoting innovation, regulatory reform, and industry engagement.

In doing so, the U.S. anti-money laundering and financial counterterrorism efforts would be strengthened, modernized, and streamlined. One provision of the act established the Foreign Affiliates Sharing Pilot Program, which would permit U.S.-regulated financial institutions to share selected Bank Secrecy Act information with foreign branches and affiliates to help detect and deter illicit finance.

Currently, the sharing of these suspicious activity reports information with foreign branches of U.S. institution is not permitted because they are not subject to our Nation's Bank Secrecy Act regulations.

By allowing financial institutions to share information with foreign affiliates, the pilot program would improve multinational compliance and detection while still ensuring that safeguards are in place to protect the confidentiality of such reports.

My bill moves the expiration date from January 1, 2024, to 3 years after the pilot begins. This is a necessary extension to give the agency sufficient time to implement the pilot program.

The rulemaking to design the pilot was noticed back in January 2022, but Treasury has not yet issued a final rule to launch the program, so obviously an extension is needed.

The new timeframe proposed here will enable the Department to complete its rulemaking process and finally implement the vital national security program as Congress originally intended.

Again, I would stress the importance of passing this bill to give the Treasury sufficient time to implement this very bipartisan pilot program to bolster our ability to combat money laundering and protect our national security.

The pilot program would provide institutions with a pathway to better manage the risk of financial crimes. The bill received a unanimous vote at the committee markup.

Now, more than ever, Americans should feel confident that the proceeds of their transactions are not being siphoned off and stowed away in the coffers of criminals. I thank my colleagues on the committee for supporting this bill, and I urge all Members to support it.

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Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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