Rep. Kustoff Applauds Unanimous Committee Passage of Bill to Combat Drug Cartels

Press Release

U.S. Representative David Kustoff (TN-08), a member of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee, today applauded unanimous Financial Services Committee passage of the National Strategy for Combating the Financing of Transnational Criminal Organizations Act of 2017 (H.R. 4768). This legislation, which was introduced by Congressman Kustoff, requires the President, working with the Treasury Secretary, to develop a national strategy to combat the financial networks of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).

"For too long, transnational criminal organizations have used illicit business ventures to grow their wealth and threaten our national security interests," said Congressman Kustoff. "From money laundering and cyber-crime to the trafficking of humans, drugs and endangered species, $900 billion of illicit capital flows through our worldwide financial systems each year, which demonstrates the magnitude of these criminal industries. By giving law enforcement and our intelligence community the tools necessary to fight against these illicit organizations, we can track down money channels and cut them off at the source."

The spread of drug cartels and TCOs has contributed to the worsening of the opioid and heroin epidemics across America. Drug cartels peddle these narcotics and have brought a wave of addiction and crime that places a heavy burden on our local, state and federal law enforcement.

On February 9, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13773 on "Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking," which demonstrates the Trump Administration's commitment to combat TCOs to promote domestic and international security. The Executive Order recognizes that TCOs and subsidiary organizations -- mostly transnational drug cartels -- have spread through the country and continue to threaten our national security interests.

This legislation, which was introduced on January 11, 2018, would be the first to require an assessment of such a TCO strategy, akin to the "national strategy for combating terrorism and other illicit financing' that was signed into law in August 2017. Click here for bill text.

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