May, 17 2022, 04:54pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Erica Hanichak, Government Affairs Director
ehanichak@thefactcoalition.org
Bipartisan Group of 23 Senators Calls to Augment Budget of U.S. Financial Crime Fighters
FACT Applauds Push to Appropriate More Funds for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
WASHINGTON
Today, Sens. Whitehouse (D-RI) and Grassley (R-IA), published a letter signed by 23 bipartisan Senators addressed to congressional appropriators to urge increased funding for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). FinCEN is the bureau of the Treasury Department that sets U.S. anti-money laundering policy; works with financial institutions to safeguard inroads to the U.S. economy; and analyzes financial data used by other agencies in sanctions enforcement, criminal prosecutions, and civil cases.
Statement by Ian Gary, Executive Director of the FACT Coalition:
"Senators Whitehouse and Grassley have led a bipartisan call to increase funding to the United States' financial crime fighters at a critical time, especially as the U.S. has newly risen in the ranks as the top supplier of financial secrecy in the world - fueling more financial secrecy than Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and Bermuda combined.
"Treasury officials estimate that illicit funds equaling 2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product flow through the U.S. economy each year. That means that in 2021, those illicit funds would have totaled an estimated $460 billion. That figure dwarves the resources provided to law enforcement and national security officials tasked with protecting the integrity of the U.S. financial system.
"The Biden Administration has made significant commitments to right the course on U.S. financial secrecy and fight corruption at home and abroad, including by implementing the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act that effectively ends the abuse of anonymous U.S. shell entities. FACT has called for final rules implementing the law by the end of this year and an effective directory no later than January 1, 2024. It's now up to Congress to fund that effort.
"Congress is taking a significant step by including $52 million in Treasury appropriations as part of a Ukraine aid package slated to pass later this week. Congress should also approve the President's FinCEN budget request of $210.3 million for the 2023 fiscal year, and enable FinCEN to address both short-term and long-term secrecy threats to the U.S. financial system."
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is a non-partisan alliance of more than 100 state, national, and international organizations working toward a fair tax system that addresses the challenges of a global economy and promoting policies to combat the harmful impacts of corrupt financial practices.
(202) 827-6401LATEST NEWS
Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
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Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
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This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
said earlier this week that the bill would dragoon the American people into becoming "an agent for Big Brother"—on Thursday argued that "this issue demands a debate about meaningful reforms, not a rushed vote to rubber-stamp more warrantless government surveillance powers."
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
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Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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"Correct," replied Shafik.
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