[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2077-E2078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MONEY LAUNDERING AND FINANCIAL CRIMES STRATEGY ACT OF 1998

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                               speech of

                          HON. JAMES A. LEACH

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 5, 1998

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I would like to include for the Record the 
following statement memorializing an understanding between the 
Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Banking and Financial 
Services relating to a specific provision of H.R. 1756:
  Section 2 of H.R. 1756 amends Chapter 53 of Title 31 of the United 
States Code to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to ``regularly 
review enforcement efforts under this subchapter and other provisions 
of law and, when

[[Page E2078]]

appropriate, modify existing regulations or prescribe new regulations 
for purposes of preventing'' money laundering and related financial 
crimes. On June 25, 1998, the distinguished Chairman of the Committee 
on Commerce, Mr. Bililey, wrote me to express the concern that ``such a 
broad mandate could be interpreted to authorize the Secretary of the 
Treasury to review enforcement actions under the Federal securities 
laws or to modify regulations promulgated pursuant to the Federal 
securities laws, or to grant the Secretary of the Treasury new or 
additional authority to prescribe regulations applicable to entities 
that are regulated pursuant to the Federal securities laws.''
  In response, I hereby affirm that it is not the Banking Committee's 
intent for the language in Section 2 to grant the Secretary of the 
Treasury any new or additional authority over entities that are 
regulated pursuant to the Federal securities laws, or to require or 
encourage the Secretary of the Treasury to review enforcement actions 
under the Federal securities laws or to modify, or recommend the 
modification of, regulations promulgated under the Federal securities 
laws.

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