[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5589-H5590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FIGHT ILLICIT NETWORKS AND DETECT TRAFFICKING ACT
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 6069) to require the Comptroller General of the United States to
carry out a study on how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are
used to buy, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods or services
associated with sex trafficking or drug trafficking, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6069
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 ``Fight Illicit Networks and
Detect Trafficking Act'' or the ``FIND Trafficking Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
2017 National Drug Threat Assessment, transnational criminal
organizations are increasingly using virtual currencies.
(2) The Treasury Department has recognized that: ``The
development of virtual currencies is an attempt to meet a
legitimate market demand. According to a Federal Reserve Bank
of Chicago economist, U.S. consumers want payment options
that are versatile and that provide immediate finality. No
U.S. payment method meets that description, although cash may
come closest. Virtual currencies can mimic cash's immediate
finality and anonymity and are more versatile than cash for
online and cross-border transactions, making virtual
currencies vulnerable for illicit transactions.''.
(3) Virtual currencies have become a prominent method to
pay for goods and services associated with illegal sex
trafficking and drug trafficking, which are two of the most
detrimental and troubling illegal activities facilitated by
online marketplaces.
(4) Online marketplaces, including the darkweb, have become
a prominent platform to buy, sell, and advertise for illicit
goods and services associated with sex trafficking and drug
trafficking.
(5) According to the International Labour Organization, in
2016, 4.8 million people in the world were victims of forced
sexual exploitation, and in 2014, the global profit from
commercial sexual exploitation was $99 billion.
(6) In 2016, within the United States, the Center for
Disease Control estimated that there were 64,000 deaths
related to drug overdose, and the most severe increase in
drug overdoses were those associated with fentanyl and
fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids), which amounted to over
20,000 overdose deaths.
(7) According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury 2015
National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, an estimated $64
billion is generated annually from U.S. drug trafficking
sales.
(8) Illegal fentanyl in the United States originates
primarily from China, and it is readily available to purchase
through online marketplaces.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.
(a) Study Required.--The Comptroller General of the United
States shall conduct a study on how virtual currencies and
online marketplaces are used to facilitate sex and drug
trafficking. The study shall consider--
(1) how online marketplaces, including the darkweb, are
being used as platforms to buy, sell, or facilitate the
financing of goods or services associated with sex
trafficking or drug trafficking (specifically, opioids and
synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and
any precursor chemicals associated with manufacturing
fentanyl or fentanyl analogs) destined for, originating from,
or within the United States;
(2) how financial payment methods, including virtual
currencies and peer-to-peer mobile payment services, are
being utilized by online marketplaces to facilitate the
buying, selling, or financing of goods and services
associated with sex or drug trafficking destined for,
originating from, or within the United States;
(3) how virtual currencies are being used to facilitate the
buying, selling, or financing of goods and services
associated with sex or drug trafficking, destined for,
originating from, or within the United States, when an online
platform is not otherwise involved;
(4) how illicit funds that have been transmitted online and
through virtual currencies are repatriated into the formal
banking system of the United States through money laundering
or other means;
(5) the participants (state and non-state actors)
throughout the entire supply chain that participate in or
benefit from the buying, selling, or financing of goods and
services associated with sex or drug trafficking (either
through online marketplaces or virtual currencies) destined
for, originating from, or within the United States;
(6) Federal and State agency efforts to impede the buying,
selling, or financing of goods and services associated with
sex or drug trafficking destined for, originating from, or
within the United States, including efforts to prevent the
proceeds from sex or drug trafficking from entering the
United States banking system;
(7) how virtual currencies and their underlying
technologies can be used to detect and deter these illicit
activities; and
(8) to what extent can the immutable and traceable nature
of virtual currencies contribute to the tracking and
prosecution of illicit funding.
(b) Scope.--For the purposes of the study required under
subsection (a), the term ``sex trafficking'' means the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining,
patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a
commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or
coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act
has not attained 18 years of age.
(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the
United States shall submit to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives a report
summarizing the results of the study required under
subsection (a), together with any recommendations for
legislative or regulatory action that would improve the
efforts of Federal agencies to impede the use of virtual
currencies and online marketplaces in facilitating sex and
drug trafficking.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend from California, Juan
Vargas, and my colleague from Pennsylvania, Keith Rothfus, for their
work together to cosponsor H.R. 6069, the Fight Illicit Networks and
Detect Trafficking Act.
This is extremely important, and it is in keeping with the work that
we have been doing in our subcommittee on terror finance, illicit
financing, and also the work we have done on this House floor about
stopping human trafficking that we see in this country and, also, the
intensive work in the last 2 weeks on opioid legislation in trying to
stop these kinds of drugs coming into our country.
This legislation would require the Government Accounting Office, the
GAO, to study and report to Congress on how online marketplaces,
including those on the dark web, are used as platforms to facilitate
the financing of goods associated with drug trafficking or sex
trafficking.
They would study payment methods, including virtual currencies and
peer-to-peer payment services, that are also being used in drug and sex
trafficking online; illicit funds that have been transmitted online and
how virtual currencies are reintegrated into the U.S. financial system;
and finally, Mr. Speaker, the study would have the participants of sex
trafficking or drug trafficking trade online that benefit from the
trade.
Although virtual currencies can be used for legal purchases, they
have become a common financial payment method for criminals.
Online marketplaces, including the dark web, have become a prominent
platform to buy, sell, and advertise for illicit goods and services
associated with sex trafficking and drug trafficking.
According to the International Labor Organization, in 2016, 4.8
million people in the world were victims of forced sexual exploitation,
and in 2014, the global profit from commercial sexual exploitation was
$99 billion.
According to the U.S. Treasury's 2015 National Money Laundering Risk
Assessment, an estimated $64 billion is
[[Page H5590]]
generated from U.S. drug trafficking operations.
Illegal fentanyl in the United States originates primarily from China
and is readily available to purchase through online marketplaces.
Certainly, all of my colleagues have heard extensively, over the last 2
weeks, the stunning horrors of how fentanyl has entered our
marketplace, with one estimate that, just last year alone, enough came
across our borders in this country to kill half the U.S. population.
According to the DEA, in 2017, the National Drug Threat Assessment,
transnational criminal organizations are increasingly using virtual
currencies. This bill will allow Congress to fully understand the
extent to which virtual currencies are being used to facilitate drug
and sex trafficking.
The bill will also study how virtual currencies can be used to detect
and deter illicit activities and propose legislative solutions to fight
these crimes.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas), a respected, active member of
the Financial Services Committee.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to
support H.R. 6069, the Fight Illicit Networks and Detect Trafficking
Act, FIND.
Allow me first to thank Chairman Hensarling for his leadership and
also Ranking Member Waters for her leadership, and also for their
support of this legislation.
I would also like to thank my good friend, Mr. French Hill. I thank
him for his kind words and for his support of this bill.
I especially would like to thank Mr. Rothfus for his leadership on
the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee and for generously
agreeing to colead this commonsense, narrowly tailored legislation.
As you may know, a virtual currency is a digital representation of
value that can be digitally traded. Since the creation of bitcoin, the
first and most widely known example of cryptocurrency, thousands of
cryptocurrencies have emerged and are designed to serve a variety of
purses.
Some forms of virtual currency provide a digital alternative to cash
that lacks the oversight of a government or central bank and,
potentially, offers greater anonymity than conventional payment
systems.
Just as virtual currencies have grown in use in legitimate commerce,
they have also become an increasingly popular financial payment method
for criminals. Virtual currencies have been and continue to be
exploited to pay for goods and services associated with illicit illegal
sex and drug trafficking. These are two of the most detrimental and
troubling illegal activities sold online.
According to the DEA 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment,
transnational criminal organizations are increasingly using virtual
currencies due to their ease of use and the anonymity they provide.
{time} 1545
While evidence points to the growth of virtual currencies as a
payment method for illicit sex and drug trafficking, the true scope of
the problem and the potential solutions have not been fully
established.
According to the International Labour Organization, in 2016, 4.8
million people in the world were victims of forced sexual exploitation,
and in 2014, the global profit from commercial sexual exploitation was
$99 billion.
Unfortunately, virtual currencies are also being used as a payment
method for transnational drug traffickers.
As you may know all too well, the United States is struggling to
combat the rising number of lives cut short by the tragic use of
opioids. As was stated earlier by my good friend Mr. Hill, in 2016
alone, the CDC estimated that there were 64,000 deaths--64,000 deaths--
in the U.S. related to drug overdose.
The most severe increases in drug overdoses were those associated
with fentanyl and also fentanyl analogs. Fentanyl is an extremely
deadly opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Fentanyl is being illicitly manufactured in China and Mexico, with most
of the illegal fentanyl in the United States originating from China,
and it is readily available to purchase through the online
marketplaces.
If we are to craft effective regulatory and legislative solutions to
combat these transnational criminal organizations, we need to fully
study and analyze how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are
used to facilitate sex and drug trafficking to determine how to best
eliminate their use.
H.R. 6069, the FIND Trafficking Act of 2018, requires the Comptroller
General of the United States to: one, carry out a study on how virtual
currencies and online marketplaces are used to facilitate sex or drug
trafficking; and, two, make recommendations to Congress on legislative
and regulatory actions that would impede the use of virtual currencies
and online marketplaces in facilitating sex and drug trafficking.
It is my sincere hope that this bill is the first step toward
crafting bipartisan legislation to impede and eventually eliminate the
use of virtual currencies by transnational criminal organizations that
facilitate drug and sex trafficking.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I again
thank both my colleagues here for their kind words about this bill and
the bipartisanship that we have had on this bill.
Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, for the bipartisan work on this bill, I want
to again thank Mr. Rothfus and my good friend Mr. Vargas. You can see
that he has the heart of a Jesuit and the mind of a Harvard lawyer.
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 Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 6069, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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