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“TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1645 on Sept. 15, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2005
______
speech of
HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY
of new york
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5025) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation and Treasury, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes.
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Oxley-Frank-
Kolbe amendment.
This bipartisan amendment from the leadership of the Financial Services Committee corrects the Culbertson provision, a major defect in this appropriations bill that would severely damage the ability of law enforcement to track and target terrorist money.
The White House, the Treasury Department, the banking community--both banks and credit unions, the immigration community, and more than 1,000 police departments across the country, are united in their support for this amendment, and in opposition to the Culbertson provision.
The Culbertson provision guts the key financial anti-terrorism law under which the Treasury Department and financial institutions across the Nation work together to combat terrorist funding.
Under the Culbertson amendment, Treasury could not enforce or even publish its regulations telling financial institutions that they must verify the identity of their customers.
This requirement to verify customer's identity was a key piece of the money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act, which were specifically noted by the 9/11 Commission as an important step towards combating terrorism.
The 9/11 Commission was clear on how we need to combat terrorist funding: ``Follow the money,'' the Commission said.
But the Culbertson provision would drive a significant sector of the economy out of banks and into illicit financial systems, where money is far harder to trace and far more subject to criminal activity.
Secretary Snow--the administration's key Cabinet officer in the effort to track terrorist funding--described the Culbertson provision as follows: ``Because this provision could drive large sections of the U.S. population into underground financial services, it would weaken the Government ability to enforce our money laundering and terrorist financing laws.'' This is the position of the administration--including the Department of Justice and the FBI.
The Culbertson provision targets a form of identification known as matricula, which are issued to Mexican citizens who register with their consul in the United States.
Supporters of the provision argue that matricula are unreliable. But this view is uninformed. The matricula system is internationally recognized and well established.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Mexico increased the security features on this card, so that it is now harder to forge or fraudulently obtain than many state drivers' license.
Mexico maintains a national database to prevent the issuance of duplicate matricula or the issuance of matricula to criminals on a
``stop list''.
The cards are accepted by many U.S. banks as a proper and reliable form of identification for Mexican citizens in the U.S.
As many financial associations and institutions have written, eliminating the sue of these cards would undermine the abilities of financial institutions to assist law enforcement in ``following the money'' by verifying customers' identity.
Additionally, the Culbertson provision would deprive many workers in this country of access to legitimate financial services--banks or credit unions--and drive them into underground systems where money is much harder to trace.
We are far safer if these segments of the population transact their financial affairs in the regulated context of banks and credit unions so that law enforcement can track them and ensure they comply with the law.
Moreover, these workers would be deprived of the benefits and consumer protections of our regulated financial system.
Lastly, as the banks note, depriving this segment of the population of access to credit and forcing them to a cash-based system will hurt the local economy.
The Culbertson provision is dangerous and fundamentally misguided.
We must remove it from this bill. I urge your support of this amendment.
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