September 21, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 163 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages H4603-H4605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STOPPING TRAFFICKING, ILLICIT FLOWS, LAUNDERING, AND EXPLOITATION ACT 
                                OF 2020

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 7592) to require the Comptroller General of the United 
States to carry out a study on trafficking, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7592

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Stopping Trafficking, 
     Illicit Flows, Laundering, and Exploitation Act of 2020'' or 
     the ``STIFLE Act of 2020''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds the following:
       (1) Trafficking is a national-security threat and an 
     economic drain of our resources.
       (2) As the U.S. Department of the Treasury's recently 
     released ``2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and 
     Other Illicit Financing'' concludes, ``While money 
     laundering, terrorism financing, and WMD proliferation 
     financing differ qualitatively and quantitatively, the 
     illicit actors engaging in these activities can exploit the 
     same vulnerabilities and financial channels.''.
       (3) Among those are bad actors engaged in trafficking, 
     whether they trade in drugs, arms, cultural property, 
     wildlife, natural resources, counterfeit goods, organs, or, 
     even, other humans.
       (4) Their illegal (or ``dark'') markets use similar and 
     sometimes related or overlapping methods and means to 
     acquire, move, and profit from their crimes.
       (5) In a March 2017, report from Global Financial 
     Integrity, ``Transnational Crime and the Developing World'', 
     the global business of transnational crime was valued at $1.6 
     trillion to $2.2 trillion annually, resulting in crime, 
     violence, terrorism, instability, corruption, and lost tax 
     revenues worldwide.

     SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

       (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall carry out a study on--
       (1) the major trafficking routes used by transnational 
     criminal organizations, terrorists, and others, and to what 
     extent the trafficking routes for people (including 
     children), drugs, weapons, cash, child sexual exploitation 
     materials, or other illicit goods are similar, related, or 
     cooperative;
       (2) commonly used methods to launder and move the proceeds 
     of trafficking;
       (3) the types of suspicious financial activity that are 
     associated with illicit trafficking networks, and how 
     financial institutions identify and report such activity;
       (4) the nexus between the identities and finances of 
     trafficked persons and fraud;
       (5) the tools, guidance, training, partnerships, 
     supervision, or other mechanisms that Federal agencies, 
     including the Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes 
     Enforcement Network, the Federal financial regulators, and 
     law enforcement, provide to help financial institutions 
     identify techniques and patterns of transactions that may 
     involve the proceeds of trafficking;
       (6) what steps financial institutions are taking to detect 
     and prevent bad actors who are laundering the proceeds of 
     illicit trafficking, including data analysis, policies, 
     training procedures, rules, and guidance;
       (7) what role gatekeepers, such as lawyers, notaries, 
     accountants, investment advisors, logistics agents, and trust 
     and company service providers, play in facilitating 
     trafficking networks and the laundering of illicit proceeds; 
     and
       (8) the role that emerging technologies, including 
     artificial intelligence, digital identity technologies, 
     blockchain technologies, virtual assets, and related 
     exchanges and online marketplaces, and other innovative 
     technologies, can play in both assisting with and potentially 
     enabling the laundering of proceeds from trafficking.
       (b) Consultation.--In carrying out the study required under 
     subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall solicit 
     feedback and perspectives to the extent practicable from 
     survivor and victim advocacy organizations, law enforcement, 
     research organizations, private-sector organizations 
     (including financial institutions and data and technology 
     companies), and any other organization or entity that the 
     Comptroller General determines appropriate.
       (c) Report.--The Comptroller General shall issue one or 
     more reports to the Congress containing the results of the 
     study required under subsection (a). The first report shall 
     be issued not later than the end of the 15-month period 
     beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
     reports shall contain--

[[Page H4604]]

       (1) all findings and determinations made in carrying out 
     the study required under subsection (a); and
       (2) recommendations for any legislative or regulatory 
     changes necessary to combat trafficking or the laundering of 
     proceeds from trafficking.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Sherman) and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Timmons) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on this legislation and insert extraneous material thereon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7592, the Stopping 
Trafficking, Illicit Flows, Laundering, and Exploitation Act of 2020, 
the STIFLE Act, introduced by Representatives McAdams and Gonzalez.
  This bill would commission the Government Accountability Office to 
study and analyze the converging attributes of transnational 
trafficking networks. These shared or overlapping characteristics and 
methods, such as supply chains, facilitators, or gatekeepers, and the 
movement of finances make it possible for traffickers in a host of 
different areas to move their illicit proceeds and evade detection.
  By better understanding the ``business models'' that underlie these 
networks, we can better combat their terrible acts in a host of 
different areas, ranging from selling illicit drugs to trafficking in 
modern slavery. We have focused on illicit trafficking--human 
trafficking, drug trafficking, et cetera--in the Foreign Affairs 
Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the members of the Financial Services 
Committee for focusing on this issue, since the linchpin, the Achilles 
heel, of many of these trafficking networks is their financial 
movements, their access to the financial system, and this may be the 
way to accomplish an awful lot to stop this illicit trafficking.
  The STIFLE Act is part of the House Financial Services Committee's 
bipartisan Counter-Trafficking Initiative, introduced in March to 
address this pervasive issue that is a threat to all of our 
constituents and communities.
  Human trafficking, drug trafficking, wildlife trafficking, and the 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are just a few examples of 
the illicit markets that generate an estimated $2.2 trillion, annually. 
The resulting proceeds and instability benefit bad actors, while 
threatening the environment, civil society, individuals on our streets, 
our economy, our national security, and, of course, the human rights of 
so many thousands of people who are trafficked around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McAdams and Mr. Gonzalez for introducing 
this bill to help identify concrete opportunities for action to combat 
these criminals and terrorists who engage in this illicit trade by 
focusing on our financial system. For these reasons, I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 7592.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. TIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7592, the STIFLE Act of 2020.
  Mr. Speaker, in March of 2020, the Financial Services Committee 
launched its bipartisan Counter-Trafficking Initiative to explore and 
expose the breadth of transnational trafficking networks and their 
illicit financial systems.
  As we learned during our additional counter-trafficking hearing, 
transnational criminal organizations rarely limit their trafficking to 
one sector. Often, these criminals will acquire and traffic anything 
that will bring them a profit. Needless to say, these criminals have 
been successful in their efforts.
  Global Financial Integrity, an NGO that studies illicit financial 
flows, estimates that the global business of transnational crime is 
valued between $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion annually. To be frank, 
Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of work to do.
  Following our counter-trafficking hearing this Congress, Mr. McAdams 
and Mr. Gonzalez worked diligently and across party lines to craft a 
thoughtful piece of legislation to help to answer some of the 
outstanding questions trafficking experts brought before the committee 
in March.
  H.R. 7592 instructs the Comptroller General to carry out a detailed 
study on trafficking issues. This would range from the major routes 
trafficking networks use, how these criminals launder and move the 
proceeds of their crimes, suspicious activity that law enforcement can 
focus on when investigating these crimes, and the steps financial 
institutions are taking to detect and prevent bad actors who are 
laundering the proceeds of trafficking.
  H.R. 7592 is exactly the type of bill we as policymakers need, to 
learn how these illicit activities are being carried out and what we 
must do to make it as hard as possible for these criminals to succeed.
  I would like to thank both Congressman McAdams as well as Congressman 
Gonzalez for taking the Counter-Trafficking Initiative seriously and 
coming away from our initial hearing with an understanding that there 
is more work that needs to be done to deal with illicit trafficking.
  I look forward to working with both of them as we continue in our 
efforts to end trafficking once and for all.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. McAdams).
  Mr. McADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Stopping 
Trafficking, Illicit Flows, Laundering and Exploitation Act of 2020, or 
the STIFLE Act of 2020, bipartisan legislation that I introduced with 
my colleague, Representative Anthony Gonzalez, from Ohio.
  Trafficking is a scourge on society, leaving millions of victims in 
its wake. Recent reports show that the global business of transnational 
crime is valued at between $1.6 to $2.2 trillion annually, resulting in 
crime, violence, terrorism, corruption, and human suffering.
  Illicit actors engaged in trafficking--whether in drugs, arms, 
wildlife, organs, or humans--use dark markets to finance and hide their 
horrific activities and their profits. We need to identify, disrupt, 
and prosecute these financial networks to stop these abhorrent crimes. 
And that is what the STIFLE Act does.
  The STIFLE Act activates tools, partnerships, and guidance of a 
number of Federal agencies to help financial institutions identify 
techniques and patterns of transactions that may involve the proceeds 
of trafficking.
  The legislation requires a report to Congress with recommended 
actions necessary to combat trafficking or money laundering of the 
proceeds.
  We must attack trafficking networks from all sides, using any 
effective approach. Targeting the finances of these networks is a key 
way that we can crack down on these illicit activities.
  The STIFLE Act is just one component of the bipartisan Counter-
Trafficking Initiative that the Financial Services Committee launched 
earlier this year. The long-term committee effort is designed to 
explore and expose the breadth and reach of international transnational 
trafficking networks and their illicit finances.
  I thank Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry for focusing our 
committee on this important work.
  Mr. Speaker, we must do more to protect innocent victims of 
trafficking and take down the trafficking networks that prey upon our 
most vulnerable. This bipartisan bill is a step in that direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation.
  Mr. TIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I simply urge my colleagues to support H.R. 
7592, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, understanding the business of trafficking--

[[Page H4605]]

whether it be illicit drugs, whether it be human trafficking, whether 
it be terrorism, et cetera--is fundamental to stopping transnational 
crime, and the harm that it causes and the victims it creates in 
communities worldwide.
  The House Financial Services Committee's bipartisan Counter-
Trafficking Initiative is a comprehensive approach to this challenge 
and is a very important adjunct to the Foreign Affairs Committee's work 
to stop illicit trafficking, particularly human trafficking.
  We need to examine these illicit networks as a whole, whether they 
engage in narcotics, timber, endangered species, rare earths, or, 
tragically, human trafficking of men and women--modern slavery.
  So I look forward to all of the committees of this Congress focusing 
on these criminal traffickers. H.R. 7592, the STIFLE Act, is a 
significant piece of that effort, tapping into the knowledge from 
survivor and victim advocacy organizations, law enforcement, 
regulators, research organizations, and the private sector to be able 
to focus on the financial system and make sure that we keep these 
traffickers at bay and out of the financial system as much as possible.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation which 
is an important step to protecting our citizens, our economy, and our 
national security.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7592.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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