Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mr. PETERS. I am in its current form.

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill. It will not require that it go back for further action. My amendment would increase funding for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence by $5 million.

It is our responsibility as a Congress to provide the American people with financial security, national security, and security in the belief that their voice counts in Washington, D.C. Instead, the underlying bill rolls back reforms put in place after the 2008 financial collapse, further undermines the campaign finance system, reduces access to affordable health care, and underfunds the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which is tasked with targeting the finances of terrorist groups.

In an era of new and dynamic threats, we need a tough, smart national security strategy to keep Americans safe. Even as we counter aggressors like China and Russia, we are faced with threats from nonstate terrorist groups like ISIS, al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

Our military has taken the fight to them. In May, an American drone strike in Pakistan killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, and as of June 28, the U.S. military and its coalition partners had conducted over 13,000 strikes against ISIS. Those strikes have destroyed over 26,000 targets in Iraq and Syria.

Coupled with our brave special operators on the ground, this air campaign has helped our allies make considerable progress in the fight against ISIS. ISIS has lost 45 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq and 20 percent of what it once held in Syria, and ISIS no longer occupies strongholds like Fallujah and Ramadi. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis recently said: ``There has been no strategic victory for ISIS in over a year now.''

But even as we have taken back territory and degraded their capabilities, the last few months have demonstrated ISIS' prevailing ability to direct or inspire attacks in the West. Paris, Brussels, Baghdad, Istanbul, and recently Orlando--ISIS' ability to direct or inspire attacks poses a clear threat to our security and to American lives at home and abroad.

In the United States, we have seen how difficult it is for our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to stop lone-wolf attackers inspired by ISIS, and in Europe we have seen the devastation that highly coordinated ISIS-directed terrorist attacks can inflict on soft targets like airports and train stations. These attacks involved terrorist fighters financed by ISIS using military-grade weaponry. In many cases, the fighters traveled to and from the Middle East to be trained.

Even as we kill their leaders, destroy their safe havens, and take back their territory, the threat from ISIS will not be eliminated until we remove their ability to direct and finance terrorist attacks.

Created by President Bush in 2004, the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence has extensive and critical responsibilities that include combating terrorist financing domestically and internationally. They work with law enforcement, diplomats, and intelligence agencies, and with the private sector and foreign governments to identify and eliminate sources of financing for terrorist networks. They also combat financial support for the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence cuts lines of financial support, freezes assets, and makes it harder for terrorist cells to finance and carry out attacks. By hitting the terrorists where it hurts--in their wallets--our financial intelligence officers make Americans safer.

My amendment will provide the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence with the additional resources it needs to carry out this mission; and moving forward, the House should also consider bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Sinema and Fitzpatrick to develop a coordinated governmentwide strategy to combat terrorist financing.

By supporting this smart, targeted approach to undermining terrorist networks, we can support the American pilots and special operators who are risking their lives in the fight against terrorism, and we can help prevent future attacks.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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