Transcripts For CSPAN3 Politics Public Policy Today 20141118

Emery organization, predominantly to protect the employees of the cdc of highly infectious agents in their Testing Laboratories and around the world. We have not had that type of relationship and would think it would be appropriate perhaps for the ur structure or some other vehicle that exists. Are you being homered . Sorry . Emery being in atlanta and cdc being there, are they just giving money to the hometown hospital, or is there some contractual relationship . Just like we need a way to take care of our employees if something tragic were to happen and they were to become ill, they need a way to manage their employees as well. And i think that was the original basis of the relationship. We would very much enjoy a similar relationship. And i think you are on equal if not better footing, medically speaking at least. Speaking of that, just to pick your brain a little bit here and maybe someone has already done this. Youve had two successful patients that got to hug all the doctors and nurses that helped them. And then we had the last patient that came in that appeared from the tv video to be in Super Critical condition. What in your opinion is the reason that perhaps this physician, latest patient passed away . Any takeaways of how you were able to treat the first patient versus this one that came in a more Critical Condition . Any Lessons Learned . I think the most important Lesson Learned is the earlier we have access to freet any patient here in africa, the better the yield is going to be. This particular patient had renal failure, liver failure, was unconscious when he arrived in the United States. What weve learned is that those are all very bad predictors of outcome. The earlier patients that we cared for did have early organ failure, but were reversible through good supportive care. They all received experimental medication, as did this patient. But i believe that the organ system failure we dealt with over the weekend was just far too extreme. With just this one example, its probably not certain, but is there just a point of no return with an ebola patient, their organs have already shut down . Is there a way of making of treating them so they can survive, or is it just at that point not survivable . I dont think its possible to predict. Young people this gentleman was in his early 40s. The thinking was that it was worth an allout effort to attempt to save him. And i dont think, if you could take the exact same patient twice that you could predict the outcome. Appreciate it. Dr. Gold, you and nebraska medicine and unmc make us proud. I appreciate all of your efforts. We have a great team, thank you. You do, with mr. Greens daughter. Gentleman yielding back . I yield back. Recognize mr. Green for one minute of wrapup. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ski unanimous consent to place in the record a statement by the American Federation of state and county municipal employees urnling congress to support the president s emergency funding of 6. 18 million. Without objection. Mr. Chairman, i want to thank both panels today. I know the first one is gone [ inaudible ]. I appreciate our witnesses being here, but also for the panel that was put together, and thats what our oversight Investigation Committee is supposed to be doing. To follow up on my colleague, im the first time in history that the intelligence from your children went back down the tree. I appreciate that, first time in mankind. Thank you. So noted for the record. I want to thank this panel. You have give you 30 seconds here . Dr. Burgess . I was going to thank the panel, too. I have been through a number of these hearings. Our committee, of course, has done hearings. I was allowed to sit in Homeland Security and they did a field hearing in dallas. I sat through the hearing on Foreign Affairs last september. This has been the most informative panel that i have had the pleasure to hear from. I really appreciate it. I know it was a long day and i know we made you wait a long time. But i really appreciate you guys sticking with us and sharing with us the information that you shared, because its been absolutely critical. Ill yield back. Through, doctor. I want to add to that. I almost had the feel that the first panel we had today was speaking the ball. We got this, and we can be confident and i dont agree. After we had our hearing several weeks ago, put forth recommendations, we needed some level of travel restrictions, people ought to be isolated for 21 days. What i hear, not only did you do that along with the hospitals of so many colleagues, but your employees didnt complain. They recognize they dont leave their compassion at the borders of africa. I thank them for that selflessness and altruism, not only while theyre there but on returning home. From this, several takeaways, people with level four gear can still get ebola. We dont know all the routes. What we dont want to have is a false sense of security, that everything is fine. I worry that the first hearing this room was packed with cameras and people in the press. At this point in the hearing, what youve told us should still tell us, we have to keep our radar up, full alert here. We have a major battle for this taking place in africa, very difficult time forgetting people in and out of there. If any of those Airlines Stop their flights which could happen at any moment, were at a loss for moving people and supplies in and out of there. Along those lines, i hold to it that we should still have people do 21day restrictions from touching patients when they come back. Im glad hospitals are doing that anyways. I hate to think what would happen if that did not occur. Quite frankly, i think the hospital would have to tell other patients if they did have some employees who were with ebola patients. I want to echo mr. Eye sacks, we ought to have a bridge for people going to and from africa, so many charities, catholic relief, methodist and so many groups ive heard from, doctors without borders. We need a way for them to easily go and come back and we can help monitor them. This is one less thing to worry about. With the amount of money were talking about going through this, especially when you look at 20 million going to new york city to monitor the people exposed to that doctor, that would pay for a heck of a lot of flights. Please stay in touch. Committee members will have questions for you and we ask that you respond quickly and in a timely manner with any questions. With that, again, thank you to the panel and this Committee Hearing is adjourned. 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A high ranking treasury official says the administration is 100 committed to come bratting isis and outlined what the department is doing to attack the funding sours. David cohen appeared before the House Financial Services Committee Last week as former officials outlined treasury efforts and outlined additional steps. Congressman Jeb Hensarling chair it is committee. The committee will come to order. Without objection t chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Before we begin, if you think you are in a strange room, you are. We did not change the portraits. As i have announced previously to the committee, our hearing room i think is the last hearing room in the rayburn building to receive a sound upgrade and other modifications to make the room ada compliant. As a reminder to all members we will be a nomadic tribe between now and theoretically the end of mar march. We hope that doesnt mean mid may. We will take whatever Committee Room our friends will allow us to have. If you see chairman schuster on the floor, please thank him for his kindness in allowing our committee to use his Committee Room this hearing is entitled terrorist financing and the Islamic State. I wish to advise members who are unaware, we have two panels today and, of course, we also have organizing meetings for the 114th congress that are ensuing. We are going do release the administration witness, secretary cohen. At noon we will convene the second panel at that time and the hearing will be gavelled down at 1 00. Please know this will be our first hearing on this vitally important topic. It wont be our last in the next congress. Members who dont have an opportunity to ask questions if need be, we can certainly call the witnesses back in the future. At least for those on the republican side of the aisle, once we have the second panel begun, wherever we last left in the q, those who didnt have an opportunity to ask questions of the first panel, we will start with you on the second panel. I now wish to recognize myself for one minute for an opening statement. The 9 11 commission estimated al qaedas brutal, evil attack on 11 cost the terrorists approximately 500,000. So for 500,000 terrorists were able to murder almost 3,000 of our fellow countrymen and inflict im measurable suffering upon our nation. Today we face another terrorist enemy for which 500,000 appears to be pocket change organization that reportedly raises between 1 million and 2 million a day. Unlike al qaeda and other terrorist groups with which we are familiar and rely mainly on private donations in state sponsorship to fund their activities, isil is almost i internally financed and apparently sitting on assets of almost 2 billion. Todays hearing continues this committees on going efforts to ensure our government is doing Everything Possible to stop the Islamic State and other terrorists from using the Global Financial system to pay for their evil activities. Fighting the financial war against terror will demand constant innovation and improvement. The tools weve used in the past may not be suitable for the future. I look forward to hearing from all the witnesses on what may be necessary to upgrade inknow investigate and starve the terrorists what we so desperately need to carry out their attacks. I will recognize the ranging member for three minutes for an opening statement. Thank you very much for scheduling todays hearing. I would like to thank undersecretary cohen and each of our other witness force being here today. Im looking forward to hearing about the administrations efforts to degrade isils Financial Capability and to review the effectiveness of our current Legal Framework in deterring terroristss financing and money laundering. The Islamic State also known as isil or isis is an incredibly violent organization that has shown a particularly callous disregard for human life, employeeing shocking and brutal tactics that include beheading, mass murder and rapes, and more recently allegations of chemical weapons use. The group is tremendously destabilizing force across large swaths of iraq and syria and its brutal campaigns have approximately drawn the condemnation appropriately drawn the condemnation of the broader International Community. In addition to the horrific massacres, kidnappings and decapitations, officials now believe that isil is one of the richest terrorist groups to ever exist with estimated assets in excess of 1 billion. Unlike most other terrorist groups which tend to rely heavy on foreign sponsors, isil generally raises its funds internally limiting the opportunities traditionally available to the Treasury Department to cut them off from the formal Financial System regardless. Treasures ability to sanction and block assets remains vital to ensure that over the long run the United States and our allies can shut downey funds that are tied to elicit oil sales, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. As we make progress in curtailing isils internal funding schemes, it may be forced to rely more heavy on types of funding that would most likely have to flow through the formal Financial System. To guard against this on all other efforts to finance terrorist activities, treasury, our financial regulators, the department of justice as well as Congress Must work diligently to strengthen the enforcement and deterrent value of our counterterrorism and antimoney laundering laws. Due to concerns that the department of justice and regulators have not met the tax of Holding Banks and their executives sufficiently accountable for blatant violations of law designed to staunch the flow of funds to terrorist groups, i join with my democratic colleagues earlier in this congress in introducing legislation that would close loopholes, encourage the flow of information related to elicit activity and strengthen civil powers to hold Bank Executives accountable for their role in safeguarding our National Security among other things. I hope as part of this committees discussion of the adequacy of International Banking policy we take a hard look at the proposal dem cats has put forth but yet to be considered by this committee. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair now recognizes the chairman of our Capital Markets subcommittee, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Garrett for one minute. I thank the chairman for holding this important hearing today. Isis inherits the rightful claim to the evil legacies of senseless brutality and inhumanity. Theres no doubt that, if given the opportunity, isis would try to harm americans here in the homeland. As a member of congress who represents the District Across from the river, what once was the World Trade Center twin towers, i know we cannot be cavalier about security threats such as isis. Unfortunately, our commander in chief hasnt always appreciated isiss threat to this nation. Accordingly im concerned how president seriously president obama has taken the threat. I look forward todays hearing and todays witnesses including an administration official. I hope to get a better understanding of what has been done and must be done to not only degrade but actually to im nate this terrorist threat. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The chair recognizing mr. Sherman from california for 1 30. I spent a substantial amount of time on these issues, our terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. We learned that qatar is a major source of funds both at the governmental level but also allowing its citizens to donate to hezbollah, hamas and isis. Isis is much more internal funded. At one point it relied more on donations. There are those that attack the president have an overly simplistic view of the situation. Ii isis is evil. Many of isiss enemies are more dangerous than isis. Given this complicated circumstance, simplistic attacks on policy dont really further the situation. Im concerned that the electricity continues to be on in all the cities that isis controls. This means that either we are providing that electricity from dams under the control of the Iraqi Government or were allowing isis to operate electric generation facilities. Either way isis is able to celek trisity because were unwilling to turn the lights off. Were in a difficult circumstance because the civilians that live under isiss rule are to some extent hostages and to some extent supporters of isis. We didnt hesitate to bomb strategic targets in europe and we cant hesitate to bomb strategic targets in iraq and eastern syria. Finally weve learned that the control of the new york fed and its ability to clear dollar transactions is perhaps the most powerful sanction that we have against terrorist states like iran, ill be interested to see whether that would play a role in isis. In any case it has brought iran to the point where theyre willing to pretend to negotiate with us in geneva. I yield back. The chair now recognizes the vice chairman of our oversight and investigations subcommittee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick for two minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This past month i had the opportunity to travel to the area, rounding out my understanding of Terror Financing and specifically the threat posed by isis. I look forward to working with my colleagues on this committee to provide oversight on the governments rhett response to isis and ensure we have all the tools necessary to meet this very unique challenge. Isis is an enemy unlike any other that we faced up to this point. They have their roots in al qaeda and iraq, theyve not only learned from their previous experiences, they have, in fact, evolved and theyre not just an organization committed to acts of tear rifl richl, but have designs on establishing their own state and are, in fact, currently governing a large area in the region. The structure creates a unique challenge. For one of the means weve traditionally employed to combat terrorist threat which is to go after their money and resources. This mission to ultimately degrade and defeat isis requires a coordinated response between the executive and legislative branches. Our National Security transcends all other considerations. Like forward to hearing today how we can Work Together to protect the American People. I yield back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Lynch for 1 30. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank the secretary and other panelists for working with the committee and helping us with our work. As cochair of the Congressional Task force on antiterrorism financing along with my colleague, mr. King from new york, the republican cochair, weve done a lot of work in this area in the traditional sense where were trying to block terrorist organizations from using the legitimate Financial System. This prechbts a different type of issue where a lot of revenue is being generated internally by isis and its a totally different scale, talking 1 million to 2 million a year excuse me, 1 million to 2 million a day in terms of their revenue. I would be very interested in hearing from the secretary on what were doing in turkey along the border, the northern border of syria there. Like my colleague, i just came back from ir beal and looked at the situation in Northern Iraq as well as in turkey. Were very concerned about the porous nature of that border and howie liss it shipments are being handled through turkey and parts of syria. I will be interested in hearing the secretarys comments on that. I do want to say thank you for the work youve done so far. I think its been commendable in terms of the antimoney laundering and Anti Terrorism funding work youve done, thank you. The chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. Ross for one minute. As you pointed out, it costs the terrorist whose murdered thousands of american citizens on 9 11, approximately 500,000 to plan and execute their coordinated attack. In sage day isil is bringing in more than double that amount through elicit business practices. We must dismantle and destroy this terrorist organization before more american lives are put at risk, from selling oil on the black market, to kidnapping for ransom, isil in a criminal organization with numerous Financial Resources that perpetuated their reign of terror in unstable regions across the middle east. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentle lady from ohio, ms. Beatty for 1 00. Thank you. Today were examining terrorist financing in Islamic State, specifically how the terrorist group known as isil obtains and deploys Financial Resources to further their operations in iraq, syria and the middle east. Each night my constituents turn on the news and find reports of isils acts and the brutality against religious minorities, women, aid workers and journalists. This must stop. The financing is the kill switch. While the military is providing air support and aid to moderate rebels and legitimate governments in the middle east to defeat isil, we must also highlight the efforts of other agencies within the administration and how federal resources may be coordinated to ultimately erode and eradicate isil. Attempting to choke off sources of funding for isil and related organizations. Mr. Chairman and my other colleagues, i look forward to working with you because the hearing on this topic not only protects our financial interest, but our National Security interest as well. Thank you and i yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana, mr. Stutzman for 1 00. Thank you for calling this very important hearing. Mr. Chairman, Islamic State is one of the most well armed, well equipped and well financed terror organizations the world has ever seen, potentially the most barbaric as well using tactics including beheading of innocent people including two american citizens. Since 2013 they recruited thousands of fighters throughout the world, taken over cities and killed thousands of innocent people who do not conform to their ways. It is reported Islamic State controls 60 of oil fields in syria. One of the most effective ways the u. S. Has disrupted terrorists in the past has been to cut off their financing, limiting their ability to plot and plan attacks. Thwarting Islamic State multiple Revenue Streams and ability to spend money they already have my require new tactics. Im looking forward to hearing how were is our current strategy work . Are allies doing all they can . Thank you to the witnesses for appearing today. I look forward to this conversation. I yield back. Last but not least, the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. Pittenger for one minute. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The threat from isis seems to be growing exponentially. This summer we were told theres 15,000 soldiers, now were told theres between 40 and 80,000 soldiers. Our best hope and opportunity appears to me to be to intercept this transport of funds coming from the sale of oil. Theres extortion and ransom and other means. It begs the question whether we have enough military intel ops on the ground. Another area of opportunity of course with Data Mining Software thats available. Ive met several times as chairman as the task force of terrorism, Many National software companies. With the Sophisticated Software available, i do hope the department is making every effort to utilize this software to engage these funds as they get into the international Financial System. Thank you. I yield back. We now turn to our Treasury Department witness, david cohen, the undersecretary for terrorism and Financial Intelligence, a position to which he was confirmed in june of 2011. At treasury mr. Cohen leads the departments functions aimed at identifying and disrupting the lines of Financial Support to International Terrorist organizatio organizations. Prior to his current service, secretary cohen held other positions at treasury, practiced law in the private sector. We welcome you, mr. Undersecretary to the committee. Without objection your full written statement will be made a part of the record after your oral remarks. You are now recognized for a 5 00 summary of your testimony. Good morning, chairman hensarling secretary cohen, could you pull the microphone a little closer to you please . Certainly. Good morning. I thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to testify on this very important topic. I will focus my testimony this morning on the Treasury Departments efforts to undermine isils financial strength as part of the administrations comprehensive strategy to disrupt, degrade and ultimately defeat isil. Were determined to defeat isil not just because of its brazen atrocities, but also because it threatens american personnel and facilities, it threatens our regional allies, and if left unchecked, it could ultimately pose a direct threat to the u. S. Homeland. Thats why under the leadership of president obama, a Broad Coalition of more than 60 partners has come together to stop this threat. Isi lfrnlts has grabbed the worlds attention for its astounding brutality. But also for its substantial wealth. Id like to outline how we at treasury are focused on undermining isils financial found dachlths our work is one of several complementary lines of effort undertaken by the international coalition. These include military operations and training, additional humanitarian assistance, stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters in to and out of syria and iraq, and exposing the hypocrisy of propaganda. The military components of the strategy are bolstering our work in attacking isils Financial Foundation. As with the rest of the campaign, our efforts to combat isils financing will take time, patience and collaboration. As lopg as isil terrorizes the people of iraq and syria and threatens u. S. Interests, we will remain committed to degrading its financial strength. Our strategy involves three muttly supported elements, the first is to cut off their main source of funding. Isil raised a significant amount of money from selling oil it extracts from the fields in iraq and syria. From mid june until recently, isils daily oil revenue was approximately 1 million, although it is now likely lower thanks mostly to Coalition Air strikes. To further disrupt this market, we are targeting for sanctions anyone who trades in isils stolen oil. It is true that isils oil moves in elicit networks, largely outside of the formal economy. At some point that oil is acquired by someone who mikes use of the Financial System and is thus full verbal to sanctions. We are also working with our turkish and kurdish partners as well as with Regional Companies to clamp down on isils cross border smuggling. Next, isil like other terrorist organization kidnaps civilians to profit from ransoms paid for their release. Isil has taken in at least 20 million for ransoms this year. Were redoubling efforts with foreign partners as we urge them to subscribe to a no ransoms policy. Refusing the pay ransoms to terrorist organizations not only makes it less likely that innocent civilians will be kidnapped, it also deprives terrorists of funding critical to their deadly aspirations. Isil also takes in some funds from external Financial Supporters and well continue to target them for sanctions. We intend to make sure that donations do not become a more significant more significant to isil as we squeeze its other revenues. As the revenue that isil generates from crime and extortion essentially by demanding cash at gunpoint, shutting down this source of funding ultimately will require breaking isils hold on territory. Treasury still has a crucial role to play. That brings me to the second element, restricting isils access to the Financial System in order to im parp its ability to collect funds from abroad. Isils ability to make the most effective use of its money or to fund external operations depends on its access to the Banking System. We we are working with the iraqi authorities, iraqi banks and International Banks and regulators to prevent isil from using Bank Branches located in territories where it operates. The third element of our strategy aims to dismantle isils Financial Foundation through targeted sanctions on its leadership and financial facilitators. That will make it hard are forethem to conduct commercial activity and clearly identify who stands behind this evil organization. Before concluding, id like to make one final point, we should not confuse funding with financial strength. While isil today is well funded, a terrorist groups overall financial strength turns not just on its income, but also on its expenses and ability to spend money freely. In that regard isil faces significant financial burdens, paying its fighters and attempting to govern sprawling territory is expensive. Isil does not have the money to meet its costs. As we make progress in diminishing isils revenue and freedom to use them, we will further exploit this vulnerability. Thank you and i look forward to addressing your questions. The chair recognizes himself for five minutes. Mr. Undersecretary, my understanding is that the ability to block terrorist funds derived from executive order 13224 issued by president bush shortly after 9 11, as part of that executive order certain entities and individuals can be designated as specially designated global terrorists. I think the initial list has grown from maybe 27 to now 800 which as you know is important because it means funds in the u. S. Can be blocked. U. S. Persons and entities are no longer permitted to do business with those on the list. It is my understanding that so far only four members of isis has been designated specially designated global terrorists by treasury. Its my understanding that. It strikes me as a little bit it strikes me as a low number. Can you describe briefly some of the challenges here and what should be the expectation of this committee and the American People going forward. As you know, the authority to impose sanctions on terrorists and terrorist financiers derives from executive order 224 is an authority we used extensively in attacking the Financial Foundations of a wide variety of terrorist organizations including al qaeda and isils predecessor, al qaeda in iraq. We have over the years used this authority to designate more than two dozen individuals and entities, some of whom are in the current manifestation of isil, some of whom are part of isils antecedents in al qaeda and iraq. We are continuing the look for opportunities to use this tool to designate these individuals. As you know, it freezes their assets, prevents their use of the u. S. Financial system. Equally important, it also has ramifications overseas. I understand what it does, mr. Undersecretary. Weve only got four people on the list. Is this an intelligence challenge . Is it a priority challenge . Again, what should be our expectation here . Specifically with regard to your question on the oil trade, there is work that needs to be done to get better insight into precisely who is involved in that oil trade. Our intel agencies are working day and night to develop that intelligence and were working with partners in the region as well to help us gain better insight into that. As we identify the individuals who are involved in that oil trade, they are vulnerable to designation under this authority. As i noted in my remarks, what we are particularly eager to identify are the individuals who have some foothold in the formal Financial System we can designate people in syria and iraq. Mr. Undersecretary, if i could, my time vuning out. Im going to attempt to set a good example here. Besides the question of priorities, weve mentioned the executive order. Is there any other Legal Authority that the administration is positing it needs on an ongoing basis to deal with isil terrorist financing . Mr. Chairman, i think we have the legal authorities we need, mostly executive order 13224. We have a host of other authorities that are potentially available to us to address terrorist financing and the financial activity related to it. One of the keys to our ability to designate which is just one aspect of our plan of attack i understand. Is to develop better insight, better intel. Ki tell you that work is under way. We have with the remaining time i have, let me get this last question in dealing with intel. My search of the record seems to indicate that there has been really only one significant terrorist finance prosecution by the Justice Department. As a texan, it received a lot of press in my hometown of dallas, boyne versus the holy land foundation. Im unaware of any other major terrorist finance prosecution. I understand youre representing treasury and not justice here. But can you at least describe the intel sharing between treasury and justice . What significant prosecution seems to be a dearth. Mr. Chairman, im not sure that theres only been one terrorist financing prosecution. I think, in fact, there have been many. Well, significant may be a term of art, so proceed. I defer to my colleagues at department of squlus tis who i understand file an annual report with congress about their activities in prosecuting terrorist financing. I will leave it to them. In terms of information sharing between treasury and justice, we are very, very closely linked up with justice on a policy level and also on an information sharing level. I think probably the best but by far by no means the only is our relationship between Financial Intelligence unit and the Justice Department in sharing information that fin sent obtains on financial activity that can be used for a whole host. Thank you, mr. Undersecretary. Ive run past my time. The chair recognizes the Ranking Member for five minutes. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. The questions that i have perhaps are questions that should only be asked in a classified briefing. And so rather than delving into some of the questions that i have about what we have not been able to do, ill simply say this. Many of us were shocked and surprised that we appear to know so little about isis when the information finally reached public view. It is inconceivable that we have what we think is one of the best intelligence agencies in the world, that isis could have developed this far with sophisticated operations for selling oil and other kinds of things that its doing without us knowing what they were doing. So without asking the questions that i would ask in a classified briefing, i would simply ask you have you been engaged, treasury been engaged with the cia and others who have the responsibility for intelligence in ways that we can catch up with how far they have developed and what they have been doing . I heard what you said about their inability to spend the money. But how can we have confidence in that kind of representation without knowing what youve done to fix the system or to mend the lack of communications that got us to the point where we are with too Little Information about isis . Congressman waters, i dont want to understand our insight into isis, into isil financing on a whole host of areas. I do think we have good information. We need better information. We are not by any means completely blind to how isil is raising its funds. On the Oil Transactions in particular, the situation there is that these this Oil Smuggling that isil is now taking advantage of had been going on for quite some period of time. You had people who were essentially stealing oil from iraqi and syrian wells, selling it through this black market that has existed in that part of the world for a long time. But what changed was when isil came and took over some of these fields, it became isil that was the beneficiary of this preexisting smuggling network. In years past when it was not a terrorist organization that was involved in this smuggling network, it frankly wasnt a high priority for our Intelligence Community to understand exactly who was involved in the smuggling of iraqi or syrian oil. It is now an enormously high priority to identify these individuals. What has changed is you now have isil has the beneficiary because they have some control toefr oil coming out of the ground. The work to identify external Funding Networks for isil is something that we have been very much involved in for many years to understand and to take action against the Funding Networks that are coming out of the gulf. Congressman sherman referenced qatar earlier. Weve been deeply engaged with qatar, kuwait, saudi arabia, United Arab Emirates over the years to both better understand the financing networks in the gulf and to take action to cut those Funding Networks off. So we are working very, very closely with our Intelligence Community, the cia and other members of the Intelligence Community so we have the information that we need in order to execute the policy i dont want to cut you off. My time is running out. Let me just say that to date many of us are uncomfortable with the fact that isis has gotten as far as its gotten, raised as much money as it has raised and is wreaking havoc in the way its doing without us having known more about them. We invest a lot of money in int operation here in this country. And we just dont expect to be this far behind. Ever. I yield back the balance of my time. As a reminder of members to state the obvious, this is an open hearing in a side bar conversation between myself and the Ranking Member. We anticipate a classified hearing very early in the next congress. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from nj nnl, mr. Garrett. Thanks to you, mr. Chairman. Ive had a number of concerns with this administrations approach 20 combat isis from the very beginning administration, including the president , has underestimated the region and to the United States as early on characterization of isis, as we all know, the j. D. Team suggests that the president was not informed of the threat. So its also concerning that the reports then that the president miss more than half of his security briefings at the beginning of the administration. So looking to you now, from your perspective, do you believe that the necessary information is now being communicated with the president . And from your position, do you think the information was always the communication to the president and other Senior Administration officials over the last year and a half . Congressman, i dont accept the premise of your question. The National Security team as a whole has been focused on the terrorist threat that we see coming out of the premise of the question was that the president saw this as not a significant terrorist threat. The president said that this was j. V. Team meaning there were other, more looming issues. Thats from the president s comments. Youre saying the president misspoke when he said that it wasnt a problem before and now its a problem . I will obviously allow the president to speak for 4i789s on this. What im telling you is that the National Security team, from the president on down, has been focused like a laser on the threat of terrorism coming from this part of the world and, frankly, from elsewhere as well, throughout this administration. I can tell you that because ive been part of this team from the out set. We have been working day and night to degrade alqaida, and alqaida affiliates as well as the terrorist organizations that have grown up in the turmoil in syria, whether its isil or not. We are working extraordinarily hard to make sure that we have both the information that we need in order to address the terrorist financing threats and the way that these organizationingses are financed. Just as a semantic thought because you wrought your use of the president which is used to degrade and eliminate, you used the term there, as well. Ill bring it up. Has all the attention been from the treasurys perspective to degrade alqaida or is our intention to eliminate them. I think i said degrade, disrupt and defeet isil. You noi e know, during other military engagements, you know, veterans day, we talked about world war ii, where he never said were going to degrade our enemies there, the axis powers. We said we were going to defeat them. And during the other wars, as well, we didnt say we were simply going to degrade them, we said were going to defeet them. I take a note that the president and now you as well, that our intentions here seem to be to degrade them, to to allow them to exist for a period of time. Let me be clear. The ultimate objective is to defeat isil and to defeat alqaida. Theres a process here, particularly on the financing side, initially, what were looking to do is degrade their access to funding, ultimately, to lead to the defeet of this terrorist organization. I would hope. Theres no misunderstanding. Okay. I would assume you coordinate with d. O. D. , as well. It is my understanding that the u. S. Calls something called threat finance cells to track Financial Transactions in the middle east. Youre nodding yes. But do you note as a result of the president s troop withdrawal, can you explain how this lack of resources has has it impacted on our fight . And also, within the time we have here, i think the administration is talking about removing them from afghanistan, as well, these threat finance cells. Will that have an impact . Well, actually, picking up on the chairmans rendition of the classified sup lemt to this hearing, i can give you a more expansive answer in that setting. I can tell you that we are the iraq finance cell that had existed a decade agoo was dismantled when the activity the fighting on the ground was ramping down. I would like to leave the second half of this answer. Objection. What were doing to enhance our intel. The time of the gentleman is expired. The chair now recognizes the jeptleal lady from new york. Yeah, thank you. Isis is the richest terrorist organization on the earth and financially sophisticated, unlike the other terrorist organizations weve dealt with that raised their money from old sources. They basically raise it and spend it internally in iraq and syria. One way to crack down on them is to crack down on the Shell Companies that are financing terrorism toward this end. Last year, ranking lady waters, mr. King and others on the other side of the aisle and i introduced a bill called the incorporation of transparency and law assistance act which would require the disclosure of very basic information from corp. V corporations of who their Beneficial Owners are. I was very pleased in august when treasury proposed a rule to itch leapt many parts of my bill. And id like to know what is the update on this . Has it been successful . Have you cut off revenues . What is happening with the rule that you put into place . Congresswoman, you highlight a very important issue, the issue of Shell Companies. The rum that you are referring to, we proposed a rule in august. The Comment Period on that final rule, actually, i think it expired in august. We are in the process of reviewing that rule. Because its an on going rule making, i should probably not get into anymore detail on where we are in terms of issuing a rule. But we are deeply committed and have been for a number of years, i know you have, to Getting Better transparency into the Beneficial Owner of legal entities. There was a proposal for legislation that would enhance our insight into the Beneficial Owners of legal entities at the time that they are formed so that we would be able to address this in two ways. Both when an entity opens a bank account well have insight to the Beneficial Owner of the entity at that stage. And, also, when a company is formed, better insight into who the owner is when the company is formed. So we are continuing to pursue this very vigorously. It just seems like common sense to me and something we could have implemented yesterday. Thats something we can jointly work on by passing it in a bipartisan way in congress. Secondly, you testified that they are making money off of extortion and their territorial games as they went into mozul and took over the bank and so forth. One of the ways that we can contain them is to obviously go after their territory. But go after how they can hold onto that territory, which is huge cars, tanks, infrastructure equipment. Have we moved to block their ability to purchase this . Sanction companies, the materials that they need to hold onto geographic areas . Clearly one important line to address isil eastertorial is defense lines activity, e. Working with the Iraqi Security forces. Obviously we support the militariment but they also have a procuremented system. Can we cut off their ability to purchase cars . Tanks . Absolutely. And are we moving to do that . Yeah. Part of our strategy is to deprive isil of access to the Financial System. Obviously, they can try to procure we can just cut off their banks. And their territories. Have we looked at that . Yes, we have. Weve work very closely with the Iraqi Central Bank and the banks that have branchs in the territory where isil operates. To ensure that isil does not have the opportunity to use those banks to make payments for whatever reason. And the third area is to cut off their revenue from the illegal oil sales that they are controlling. They cant all be in cash. What are we doing to cut off the transaxes that are note in cash . Its got to be through banks. Very brief answer, please. We are working to understand exactly how those transactions occur, whether it is entirely in cash or throughbacks. If its through banks, we will with able to address that. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas. Thank you, mr. Chair map and secretary, thank you for being here. As you were kind of laying out the plan that treasury has for the koupter terrorism financing, you know, i think one of the questions that came to my mind was two things. One is how long do you think it will take to get into this plan to the point where we see some diminish i diminishing amount of ore sources going to isil. Its a very good question. Its a question difficult to answer. We have began to see some diminishment in revenue because of oil sales. They were earning, on average, about a Million Dollars a day. Sort of over the summer. In particular, because of the air strikes to isil global refineries, as well as other activity, we have seen a decrease in the in what we estimate to be the revenue from the oil sales of that Million Dollars a day to several mimon a week. So theres some progress there. The history of our Counter Terrorist financing work generally is small steps that you can see over time having an impact. I dont expected coming back to this committee a month from now and be able to give you a Balance Sheet that says this is what isil has today and then a month later show a decrease. I do think that the strategy that were employing will impair the ability to use funding that they have. But its going to take the dedicated effort over some period of time. Now, one of the things weve been thinking about was that we almost sound like were ramping up this antiterrorism fighting structure. Weve been fighting these terrorists for a long time. Are we just now really taking this issue serious . Or are we taking it serious, but this is a dimpb situation . Im not clear as to where weve been and what weve been doing. For years, degrading the access of terrorist organizations to fund it. Were working on this. Including alqaida in iraq, which was the predecessor to isil as well as isil. What we are doing is obviously talking more to defeat isil and to go after itsd financing. But this is a reflection of a lot of work that has been done over many years. Now, recently, in september, isil released 46 hostages from turkey. The president of the United States said no ransom was paid. But theres a lot of different ways to e newspaper rate or to compensate for someone. I think its outside of isils pattern here of releasing hostages, even though you state, you know, that theyre using hostages to raise money. Are you absolutely sure that tlfgs no quid pro quo for releasing those hostages between turkey and isil . Congressman, recognizing the chairmans admonition about this being an open hearing, i think this might be a topic addressed in a closed session. I can tell you that it is u. S. Policy not to pay ransom and not to make any other type of concession to hostage takers, including, obviously, terrorist organizations. We are very aggressive in our efforts to ensure that others around the world adhere to a similar policy. We think thats the best way to protect all of our citizens. You have this plan that youve itch leapted. What are some of the metrics that youre using to say okay, this indicates that were being successful. Well, most importantly, we will continue to get reflections under which it is under financial stress. Again, its not going to be a pretty Balance Sheet. But we do get information ong r on the financial where with all of these organizations and well be able to detract it. The chairman recognizes the jentle man from california. Mr. Sherman. Some of my colleagues have talked about the surprising strength of Iraqi Government and military which easily conceded territory, handed over weapons, left a bank vault open. The problem is the government in baghdad. A man who refused to enter a status of forces agreement not only with this agreement, but refuses to enforce an greemt with the Prior Administration that installed him. And, instead, wanted and suke seeded in getting american troops out so he could further oppress the sunnis in the middle of his country. Second, were talking a lot about how powerful isis is. Lets keep in mind. The hesbollah iran axis is far more power, has far more money, has greater capacity to carry out terrorist actions old the middle east than isis does. Weve had discussions of isis export and oil. Do we have this technology to sample oil that might be on sale in turkey and say we know what field that oil came from. That came from an isis controlled field in syria. That came from north earn iraq. Is that Technology Available . Well, your question is at the outer edges of my knowledge of oil. But i can tell you this mostly from my work on the iran sanctions. Different oil has different properties. It is often possible to tell where oil comes from, although im also told that theres some similarities among fields. I cant tell you within a great certainty that well be able to do that, but i believe so. We all want to go after isis. The policy issue is do we go after isis in a way it causes home to civilians. We didnt he has tat to bomb occupied europe. If a business person of good character and reputation in mozul wants to buy something from europe using the International Banking system, a civilian item, do we try to stop them . We obviously would not try to stop a decent citizen in mozul trying to buy well, we certainly did in world war ii, which we seem to have taken more seriously. You koumdnt say hay, im an occupied marseilles and i want to buy a shipment of food from argentina. Lets ship it on over. But youre saying if i need a replacement part for my factory in mozul, i can just buy it on line . No, im not saying that. Well, do we prevent the honest business person in occupied mozul from conducting civilian transactions . Well, what prevents most direct directly is isil. But the use of a Banking System is something that we are, as i noted earlier, are attempting to prevent. Okay. Youve answered this question with two inconsistent answers. If a poern is movings his investments around on wall street or is trying to buy Replacement Parts for his factory, is that something where a bank is involved in that transaction that will be sanctioned . If its not related to isil in anyway . No, except if the guy is low kated in mozul. So theres obviously an intelligence question there. Do we know this person is or is not affiliated with isil. If hes not affiliated with isil, it is not a sanctioned action. When we get serious, it will be. We did not wage world war ii and say every marseilles businessman can conduct International Business just because we love the french. You noticed that that was nazi territory. I yield back. Our efforts to prevent isil from making use of the Banking System would effectively prevent that transaction. But were not target iing the civilian in mozl who is dom nated and sub jew gaited by isil. These people are victims, as well. So the time of the gentleman has expired. I apleesh yat your efforts to create National Security. Are you in the room when those strategies are being perform snd. Yes, sir. Okay. So on a scale of 1 to 10, when you talk about dpleeting the resources, depleting the resources, say x, oil production, you would be familiar with the processes and the tar gets and things like a . In terms of the military targets . Yeah. Youre sitting there. Youre fairly comprehensive in your report here, are you in that room is all im asking. We are linked up closely with the Defense Departments in terms of itsds okay. But its not a redirection. On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to stop the oil revenues from coming in. The administration. 1 to 10. Id give that a ten. Okay. So why dont you stop it this afternoon. If you really want to do it. Youre in the room. You can stop it today. You move 30,000 a day. That brings three quarters of a billion dollars to 1. 8 billion a day. To move it requires 250 trucks. Now, your report stalks talking about insurance. Choking off the funding for insurance. If you start pounding the truck, the insurance will drop them thems. It is the trucks moving it to market. You have access to that. Sounds like every highway, every oil field. You know which oil fields are under the control. I wonder why youre not stopping the oil today. Because you can do it. Its well within your grasp and you have the technology. You have the information. You dont have to sort through all the banks, you doebt have to track strong companies. You dont have to find out which people in marseilles are taking the oil. Stop the flow of the oil. It eets very simple. Why dont you do it . Congressman, as you know, the Defense Department has conducted air strikes. No, youre telling me that it is not important then. It is not a number ten on the list or they would have stopped it today. It dupt matter what the department of defense says. The American People, you said in the report, that the american interests are at stake. Then stop the flow of the oil. Every single drop of oil, speaking as someone who comes from a county that makes its entire living on oil, goes from a well into a tank now, you need to blow up the tanks, you can blow up the trucks or you can blow up the connection between the two. You dont just put oil in by five kal lon gallon cans through a tanker truck . You put it in through a delivery mechanism. Just blow up the delivery mechanism that loads it on the trucks. This is a very simple operation. And yet you all do not appear to have a number 10 commitment. Or you would do it. I really am curious. People in my state are extremely alarmed that the terrorists are funding thems through oil revenues and they can stop it this afternoon. Congressman, i am not a military target. I asked you what is your commitmented from this administration to stop the flow of oil. You said it is a number 10. That is the highest on the scale. A ten. And if the commitment is there, you dont have to be a military targeter. Just stop the oil. We could shut it off today. It is a very simple process if you have a commitmented. Maybe the commitment is lacking. The commitment to stop the funding for isis. If i had a subject return you told me youre in the room, sir. Is anyone in the room talking about this . Has anyone suggested that we stop the flow of oil today. If it is a number 10 item, if we have a desire on a ten scale, number ten, to stop the flow of oil, why hant somebody said lets stop the flow of oil. Let us quit looking at Insurance Companies and financing. Who takes the oil . We dont have to know any of that. Stop it in its tracks. Its very, very simple. I understand. If you would take that message back, maybe someone would contact someone in the oil field and find out what it takes to blow up 120 barrel tanker. Its not very complex. I dont know that weve got the technology in our county, but i suspected it exists in the department of defense. But we just sit here and let them get 2 billion a day while the American People live in fear . Its irresponsible on the part of the administration. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The chair now recognizes the jentle man from new york, the Ranking Member of our financial subcommittee. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Undersecretary, in your remarks at the carneggie endowment, i believe you stated that youre working to limit isils ability to transact through syrian and International Banking systems. However, its the informal value system with a huge network of money brokers that have been in place for centuries. And if the International Community imposes sanctions of institutions under isil control, theres a chance that the sanctions would not only be as effective as we like, but it would push money into this informal part to regular late network. So my question is is the u. S. Treasury look iing into moving i,il money . What are we doing in that regard . Well, absolutely, congressman. The networks are part of the Financial System. As we are working to exclude isil through the ability to use the formal Financial System, we are very much focused on ensuring that they cant use, cant turn to the system through a greater extent. We have been tar getting sanctions and disrupting their activity because these hawallas, although they are an informal mechanism for value exchange, it maltly, also have intersections with the formal Financial System. These brokers need to, at some point, have acounts and thats another means by which we can disrupt the use of informal financial efforts to transact. From what i understand, thats the mechanism that isil has used to send payments to its finders and workers and regional leaders. And thats whats enticing some folks to come and what theyre looking for. So are we looking at ways that we can prevent them from getting this money so that these payments are interyou wanted so that they wont be able to entice folks to join them. Absolutely. What were looking to do is identify who the brokers are and how they intersekt with the formal Financial System, because, at some point, the payment message that goes through the system needs to get translated into cash or other being delivered to something on the other end. We do have, when we get insight into who is involved there, there are ways to disrupt the activity. That is very much one of the things that were working on with our parter ins in the Intelligence Community. Here is also a question that i have. I know weve got to try to weigh these lines and im trying to make sure that we dont turn again or have all the folks over the region against this inception. So i was wondering what steps has the treasury taken to sponsor the terrorist organization such assics e isil. But, at the same time, keeping this open to legitimate actors, including a lot of immigrants and immigrant families who provide critical financial lifeline to their families back in their home countries. Ive got someone in my district that is like that. So weve got this this thin line to work and i thought id ask y you. We are working on the remit tans issue to try to ensure that legitimate commitment is coming from the United States, going to communities around the world are able to flow. And i see congressman ellis in here. Weve had a number of conversations on this issue. I think and i can go into more detail, sort of the variety of steps overtaking, throughout guidance in the event and community, implementing legislation e slags that the congressman sponsored and signed into law this summer, to try to ensure that the Money Service businesses can continue to operate. With respect to iraq, will not prevent remittances going into baghdad, for instance. But ought to prevent isil from getting access to funds in the area where its operating. Time of the jebtle man has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, the vice chairman of our oversight investigation subcommittee, mr. Fitzpatrick. As i said, mr. Secretary, before i traveled, i had a chance to meet with some of your analysts and employees of the treasury and found him to be very helpful and thorough in the information. I do want to follow up on smm of what mr. Meaks was asking about the systems. Theyve been informal. Theyve been and a around a long time. Posed quite a challenge, i think, in tims of trying to follow the money and how it flows terrorist organizationsizations. Does the department have a handle on how many there are say in iraq and perhaps as a percentage of the bigger Banking System there . Congressman, first, i want to thank you for your involvement in aztar. I appreciate your cooperation in this issue. Let me get back to you specifically with this. I can tell you that the networks that are across the board from iraq and syria into whether its cutter or saudi arabia, into cue wait, uae, you can work on both ends of this issue. And so part of our strategy is to work with our partners in the gulf to cut down on the source whether the informal system so that the money doesnt flow into iraq and syria. When you say cut down on the sewers, talking about the sewers being on the elicit gains from foil . No, specifically donations. The oil sales, i think, are actually more of an issue going north. Theres a kurdish region in iraq or into turkey. What were trying to get a good handle on is how those payments iii made. What makes isis unique, their swress on using the oil, this is different from other terrorist organizations, to fund their recruitment, their training and their equipping. So while were taking a look at this, why isis is unique and how to look at that, i think youre correct. We cant forget more traditional sources. Youre talking about donations on that subt. One of the meeting that i had was the administrator of social affairs. He was talking about a new law that they have. Does treasury have faith that that law will work . The law that was adocumented just . September is welldesigned. What it requires is solid imp lemtation. I have similar meetings to the ones that you have. Weve been pressing them to move from a situation to be more effective. They have deported an individual who has been involved in e lis sit Charitable Fund raising in gatar. They have kmited to implementing tear charities law. And there are other laws to more effectively cut down on terrorist financing. There is still work to be done there, but i have think some of the steps that are harken of some good things to come. But there is clearly work that needs to get done. Were you able to identify under regime scenario that there needs to be more. I think we havent been shy about identifying gatar in kuwait as the two jurisdictions in the gulf where additional steps could be taken. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Again, mr. Secretary, thank you for your willingness to testify. I do share frustration that some of the perceptions, but i do want to point out that, for instance, the beijing oil refinery maybe about 150 miles north of baghdad, ive been there a couple times. Its not really its low tech, but its the largest refinery that they have there in that region. If we had destroyed that a month ago, i think the iraq government you know, last week two weeks ago, the iraqi forces took that refinery. Now it is pumping oil for the Iraqi Government. If we had gone in there and destroyed that also set, that refinery, it would have been a huge setback for the Iraqi Government to retake and reestablish their oil flow. We had a similar situation that is in dispute right now. Sure, we could go in there and destroy those oil wells, but theres a long standing problem now. We had a similar problem with i wanted to make two observations. Number one, i want to congratewe late the senator for his extraordinary work on this. Number two, this will be an early item on the agenda in the next congress. And im very confident that senator hogans bill will succeed and well be able to get it down to the president. Thank you, senator. Were disappointed. We knew it was going to be tough to get the 69 threshold. Thought we might get 60 or 61, it didnt happen. All along, as we said, we knew wed be in the new congress on this issue because the president has made it clear hes going to veto this bill. So we were prepare ds to come back. If you do the math, if you look at the new congress, you can count four more right away. Net. And i think there may be others when you look at west virginia, when you look at south dakota. Colorado, you can see were well over 60. But were going to have to do better than that. Were going to have to get to 67 or attach this legislation to a Broader Energy package or maybe an appropriations bill. Weve done that before. Again, in 2012, we passed a keystone bill attached to the payroll tax that required the president to make a decision. He turned the project down. Thats why we come back under the congress clause for constitution. And this bill provides congressional freedom from the project. So as ive talked about, many of you will go back and work to site the best approach. I want to thank our leader for saying well be back on this bill in the new congress. Early on. And it comes down to the merts. It is about jobs. It is about economic growth. It is about National Security by building a secure Energy Future for this country and not depending on the middle east for our energy. The American People know. And theyre saying overwhelmingly approved this project. So were not going to stop until we do that. I, too, want to con grat ewe late john. Hes been just a real champion on this issue. Hes not going to let go of this until, obviously, as was mentioned earlier, well revisit this issue with the new congress and have an opportunity with some new people for a new vote. Im disz appointed, like my colleagues are, that we didnt have the representative 60 votes to move this along. Obviously, in the new congress, that vote will be different. I would only wish that, at long last, the democrats would have gotten the message on this. It just seems like they are held captive by the far left wing of their party when it comes to this issue. This is a mainstream issue. Its an issue on which the American People have been very clear. Its an issue that if you look at it on the merit, youre allowed discussion on the floor, i dont know how you can get passed the fact that this has been skrut niezed and reviewed and analyzed for the past six years. More than probably any project that weve seen in history. And five, five Environmental Impact statements. And we know that on the state department, 42,000 jobs. So weve got jobs, energy security, which is, of course, National Security issue. And our part of the country, this helps to relieve some of the stress that we feel on the rail system. Were having a hard time because of all of the oil moving on rail. It puts additional pressure on the oil system in such a makes it harder for us to move agriculturally. This would have the added benefit of putting down some capacity and creating a better transportation suspect. So for all of those reasons, this made so much sense. It is a nobrainer. I look forward to passing this in the next senate. I will join the choralous here in supporting the good work of senator hogan in leading on this issue. Just because we didnt get the requisite 60 today doesnt mean that this fight is over. You take something up because its the right thing to do. Advancing the pipeline is the right thing to do. Its good for the economy. Its good for jobs. As has been pointed out, its good for National Security. Its good with our relationship for our friends to the north. Our strongest ally, canada. When you think about the benefits to this country, that the pipeline brings, and then you throw in the own vierntal piece, if we advance this pipeline, it is going to be harmful to our environment. There is low risk when you move oil through a pipeline. There is less enviempbtal activity when you move oil through a pipeline. So for so many good reasons, we will be back at the first of the year as leader mcconnell has said. And i do believe that the momentum that we have gained, the momentum that the American Public continues to press us on will prove that we will see passage of this. And ultimately, success with this pipeline. I want to join everybody else in thanking senator hogan who really has been our leader on this for all the time that hes been here. Ive been pleased to be with others on a cosponsor with every piece of legislation i can think of to get this done. The Keystone Pipeline is important as a symbol of whether our country is willing to embrace the great opportunity of more American Energy. If we do, significant things will happen for jobs and families. This is more than just the jobs to build the pipeline. This is the jobs when people think theres a utility bill they can pay and a Delivery System that works. This will have huge impact on our economy. Both of our neighbors to the north and south have Energy Resources that combine with ours, make a significant difference with canada, our biggest trading partner. Mexico. Whos quickly becoming almost our biggest parter in. I think theyre about number four now in the entire world. But north American Energy, what we do with that, how we have these three economies that are so interlocked and beneficial with each other working together to solve this big problem. Its more than just the jobs to build the pipeline. I heard that several times today. Theres only 36 jobs to op riet e rate the pipeline. Well, sure, its an e fisht way to move the product that we need. Other jobs are confident when we embrace more American Energy. If theres a simple formula, more American Energy equals more american jobs. The senate narrowly walked away from it today. The house clearly embraced that con september last week and this issue will be back as soon as we get back next year. Is the right direction that we want to take if we want families to have jobs. Senator, i was going to jump in, but it looks like he had to go. So hell be back. Is there any way to convince the president to sign this . We were 59d today and thats before some of these maybes who may come on board today. But by the end of the year, we should have a judicial process in the grasp of pretty well deciding. Thats going to bring some people on the board. So were at of 3. Now were starting to get closer to of 7. Getting to that number is a possibility. Well have a strategy and well come back. This isnt going to have anything to do with the shutdown. Theres many numbers that are already in discussion with this about coming up with a Broader Energy package or some other way to work it. It goes back to the merts with a lot of interest in coming up with equations to move the bill. You know, our Energy Committee chairman is here and shes got great ideas in terms of how we can package this. I also want to thank all of the sponsors who joined us to this point. And recognize that were going to have to have bipartisan antibiotic to get this done. Well, l g export, for example. I think weve got to get into the recycling legislation. Weve got to address hydraulic fracturing. Theres a whole range of things we can do. And i actually would invite our incoming Energy Committee chairwoman to have a lot to say about these things. And all you need to do is go to energy2020, 1125 page Beautiful Tree tus. But, in case you havent read it, it will be policies that focus on abundance, affordability, clean energy sources, Diverse Energy sources and secured energy sources. So were going to have a lot of work in the new congress, in the 14th. But i can guarantee you that our opportunities to work with our partners in energy, as canada is, to help advance our economy in the United States as well as help our friends with trade relationships. You other going to see keystone excel come back and i will repeet the leader mcconnell words, that we will see that early in this next congress. I think you all know that i have been the point on the issue of experts generally, whether they be l g or whether they be oil. And i have arctic ewe lated this in some pretty extensive white papers. I do think that today, you can be assured that this conference is going to continue to push on the keystone excel pipeline. Regardless of what the energy packages will look like. You know, thats not up to me to decide. Thank you. I the floor of the United States senate and used the power from being a senator representing one of the great states in this nation to force a debate on an issue that i felt strongly about and they feel strongly about for many years. There was a lot of politics going on about this before the election. And im talking about in the last several years. Not just in the months up to the election. And you all that have followed this know that as well as i do. But there is an opportunity, this was not on harry reids agenda. It most certainly was not on Mitch Mcconnells agenda. But its been on my agenda. And its staying on my agenda. And im going to do everything i can to help america become energy ind pen dent. And to use the also sets and the resources that we have. And, most importantly, be a parter in with our best ally, which is canada. And our very promising new economic partner in mexico. It makes sense for jobs here, jobs in canada, jobs in mexico and it makes sense for us to stand against the tie rants of this world which would be putin and the leaders of china in some ways and others that would force us to me gauche yat or trade in ways that are not in americas interest. So for jobs, for economic opportunity, for ijd p independence, i want to thank you for your extraordinary leadership. I know it means a lot. I cant tell you how much i afreesh yat youre standing with the coalition. Let me just say i was proud to stand with mary on this. She led this fight every step of the way. This is something for every state in the nation. When you think about a job corps, you think about security. We buy 72 p Million Barrels of oil a day in other countries. I dont think that makes us secure as a nation. I was proud of mary and the fight that she led for us. And i hope that people know that shes not afraid to take on the leaders of her own party. This is something that we need the talk about. Mary got that force. We thought this day would never come. So with that, i say thank you, mary, for doing a good job. With that, ive been very proud of the treasured Energy States in the nation. Represented by one of the best senators in the nation whos been fighting and understands what economic stability means. Great thanks to my great friend mary landrieu. This was a discussion about a pipeline. You would have thought it was the end of the earth. You would have thought it was the most significant thing happening in the free world. Guess what. It wasnt. This is about a pipeline. This is about whether were going to build an infrastructure that transports the energy that we need. This is about whether were going to buy that energy from our good friends north in canada. I just want to say one comment. All of those people talking about gasoline prices being below 3. Ill tell you why thats happening. Its supply and demand. Its classic economics. When we have a supply of crude oil, not just from an old cartel country, but you have a supply of oil that goes into the free marketplace, that supply results in meeting demand, sometimes exceeding demand and driving energy costs down. And so today, its not just about a pipeline. Today is about energy pot sill. Today is about energy consumers. And we have taken this discussion about a pipeline, and we have made it about much more than what it is. And so my great hope is that we will resolve this concern, we will resolve this controversy regarding the Keystone Pipeline and well begin to have a much broader, much more significant discussion about Energy Policy in this country. Thats what the American Public need. Thats what the American Public deserves. And so this is just one step in the process. I look forward to the next congress when mary landrieu, joe mansion, and a number of our other great Democratic Senators who stepped up to say yes to jobs, and yes to rational Energy Policy, will be back fighting this issue. Its not the end of this issue. Its not going to be the end of this issue. And im grateful for the opportunity in this congress to vote. And theres only one senator who gave me that opportunity. And shes standing right next to me. Because shes never stopped fighting for common sense. And shes never stopped fighting for the people of her state. So on we go. On we go, you bet. A few questions . Dana . Is dana here . Okay. [ inaudible ]. Im going to let heidi answer that. Because she can really tell it better. I dont know who where you guys get your information about what goes on there. But i read all the time what you guys say goes on there, and its not the meeting i was at. We had a very since the election, weve asked for more frank discussions in caucus. Did we have a frank discussion . All of us spoke at that discussion, talked about why we believed in the need for this pipeline project. Obviously there was heartfelt beliefs on the other side. Id say it was very productive. And to suggest that there was anything more than a substantive discussion on the issue of this pipeline is really disingenuous. And i dont know who told you that. There was a more passion al discussion in favor of the pipeline. And those who had a philosophical belief on the other side. There was nothing brutal about it. Its the kind of caucus we should have been having for the last four years. Actually, i remember quite a bit of applause. Youve been confident over the last few days [ inaudible ]. Well, first of all, theres no blame. Theres only joy in the fight. Where i come from, we just never talk about quitting. And we dont talk about whining. After the game is over, and this is not a game, it was very serious, but when i play ball, whether you won or lost that day, you just shook the opponents hand and got up and went to fight another day. So there will be no blame from this senator. The reason that i was fairly confident is because i arrived here with 14 votes. And felt relatively certain that the coalition that was put together was Strong Enough to find the extra one. Id say we have to work on our little muscle a little bit more. Yes, maam . [ inaudible ]. Absolutely not. Because, you know, the power that comes with the senators, equal to all senators, regardless of whether you are junior or Senior Member. But the experience of being here 18 years is what informs me. Just like the experience of doing your jobs. When youre a junior reporter, you write a certain article, after five years you write it a little differently, and after 20, you write it very differently. Only a Senior Member that has been here as long as i have could have recognized the opportunity, the opportune moment when Mitch Mcconnell was focused on other issues, and harry reid was going back to the same old agenda, that i said, you know what, i think its time to have this debate. So my experience is still valuable. My chairmanship to the end of this congress is very valuable to the people of louisiana. And when i get back here as Ranking Member, with 18 years of experience, having worked with three president s, six governors, and four majority leaders of all different parties, to represent the people of my state, is valuable in itself. If i could say one thing about her coming back. And why its so important for mary to come back. Being a member of the Energy Committee right now, ive been able to see in a short time mary has been the chairman, that were able to move things forward and have discussions we never had before. We never had these debates before. Marys able to bring that to the table. Her coming back as the ranking minority member, working with Lisa Murkowski as the chairman, is going to have a policy thats basically going to be good for americans, secure for americans. Its important for mary to come back. I hope the people of louisiana understand that. I think that we talk about quote. But the single most important attribute of a successful senator is tenacity. The willingness to put it all on the line. I saw this with the debate on flood insurance, working with mary on reforms on flood insurance, which has literally saved the people of louisiana hundreds of millions of dollars. You saw it during her debate and her work on katrina. So what i hope that the people of louisiana saw in this senators effort is the tenacious advocate who puts her interests, who puts her personal life on the line to be an advocate for the people of louisiana. And i think thats what was proven in this fight. The last one. Can you give a accepts of what im sorry. Weve got to go. Thank you all very much. With the 5941 vote in the senate, the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline bill failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass. The hill writes that senator landrieu and other proponents fell short despite the weeklong battle to win over members of her conference. The vote itself was a gift to landrieu, who had long sought approval of the pipeline as a project that would bring jobs to her state. Senator landrieu is facing a Runoff Election for her seat against republican congressman bill cassidy on december 6th. Now were going to go back to the House Financial Services Committee Hearing on the ways to block the funding for the militant group isis. Weve been hearing from david cohen of the Treasury Department. Some of these regulators are going after folks farm sales, tobacco sales, fireworks sales. Are these engaged in terrorist Financing Activities . Have you run into any of them . Have you had any actions again any of these folks for terrorist Financing Activities . Im not aware of any actions against any of the entities you just described. Any of those industries, yeah. Okay. Certainly with respect to isil. Very good. I know that the financial crimes enforcement network, fcen, put out a paper this week with regard to money servicing businesses, laundering money for terrorists. Theyre concerned about the same thing that youre talking about, the banks indiscriminately ending accounts. You work with them every day, right . They work for me. There we go. Youre aware of this paper, youre aware of this statement . And support their conclusions as well i assume . Yes, sir. Very good. One last question here. Your remarks also mentioned the reforms to make our antimoney laundering capability stronger. One was a safe harbor from civil liability for Financial Institutions that file suspicious activity report. I would agree with that recommendation which is included in my bill that i offered hr4986. The end operation point act. Can you tell the committee why the safe harbor is important and how this will help Financial Institutions in the fight against terrorist financing . The issue there is that theres a difference of interpretation in some Court Decisions about when an institution files a suspicious activity report, whether they could be brought into court, subject to civil liability, if they werent able to prove a good faith basis for filing a report, these reports which are confidential, based on suspicion of potential illegal activity that are filed with fncen by Law Enforcement to pursue cases, not as the end point, but as an opening point, are incredibly valuable. And what we are looking to do is to ensure that institutions can comply with their obligation to file these reports without fear of civil liability. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The time of the gentleman has expired. As a reminder to all members, we are going to excuse our administration witness fairly close to 1 00. And impanel the second panel, which means that the chair plans to call upon miss im sorry, noon, excuse me, noon. Dont want our witness to panic. I will call upon mr. Ellis and mr. Pittinger, mr. Purl mudder, and then we will release our first witness and well welcome our second panel. So at this time the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Ellison is recognized. Mr. Cohen, thank you for your service to our country. And your hard work to help combat terrorist financing. Earlier you mentioned the remit answer improvement act that passed through Congress Earlier this year. Now were in the phase where we want to see it implemented. I wonder if you might elaborate on how you see the bill being adopted, absorbed into the Financial Community so that we can stop bad people from getting money and allow the decent people to remit money. Congressman, i think this is an important piece of