[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 73 (Tuesday, May 10, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2173-H2175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KINGPIN DESIGNATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2016
Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4985) to amend the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
to protect classified information in Federal court challenges.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4985
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 ``Kingpin Designation
Improvement Act of 2016''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN FEDERAL COURT
CHALLENGES RELATING TO DESIGNATIONS UNDER THE
NARCOTICS KINGPIN DESIGNATION ACT.
Section 804 of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation
Act (21 U.S.C. 1903) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(i) Protection of Classified Information in Federal Court
Challenges Relating to Designations.--In any judicial review
of a determination made under this section, if the
determination was based on classified information (as defined
in section 1(a) of the Classified Information Procedures Act)
such information may be submitted to the reviewing court ex
parte and in camera. This subsection does not confer or imply
any right to judicial review.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino) and the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr.
Cicilline) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
General Leave
Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous materials on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am pleased
to call up the Kingpin Designation Improvement Act, which was favorably
reported this week by the Judiciary Committee on which I also sit.
This bipartisan bill, introduced by the gentleman and gentlewoman
from New York, Mr. Katko and Miss Rice, helps to ensure that classified
information used in the designation of foreign drug kingpins may be
protected from public disclosure so that it cannot be used by drug
lords and terrorists.
Under current law, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control, otherwise known as OFAC, is able to designate international
drug traffickers as kingpins. These designations are published in the
Federal Register, and the individuals are added to the list of
specially designated nationals, which effectively blocks any U.S.-based
asset and their access to the U.S.
[[Page H2174]]
financial system. This is a potent weapon against international drug
traffickers.
Since the enactment of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
16 years ago, OFAC has designated more than 1,800 individuals, all of
them non-U.S. persons. These include not only high-profile drug
traffickers, but also individuals who are using drug proceeds to
support international terrorism.
Now, listed persons can seek removal of those sanctions by
challenging them in Federal court. The tricky part arises when OFAC
designations are based on classified information. We do not want to
hand drug lords and terrorists the sources and methods we have for
uncovering their nefarious activities. We also do not want OFAC to be
deterred from making the designations our national security requires
because they are worried that such classified info may be publicly
disclosed.
For these reasons, other key OFAC sanctions laws, like the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act, provide protections for
classified information. Under that statute, OFAC can submit such
information ex parte and in camera directly to the judge outside of
public view.
H.R. 4985 just incorporates that same protection in the Narcotics
Kingpin Designation Act. Also, it is worth remembering that these
designations are not something done secretly in the dead of night. They
result from the coordination of five Federal agencies. They are
published publicly, and they are reported to 10 congressional
committees, 5 in the House and 5 in the Senate, some of which receive
the classified background on the designated persons.
I want to thank Foreign Affairs Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel,
Judiciary Chairman Goodlatte, and Ranking Member Conyers for moving
this bipartisan bill promptly to the floor.
H.R. 4985 is an important tool in our fight against high-level
narcotics traffickers and deserves our unanimous support.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and
yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to thank Representative Katko and Representative Rice
for introducing this bill, H.R. 4985, the Kingpin Designation
Improvement Act, which helps ensure that Federal courts can review
sanctions against drug kingpins without forcing law enforcement or the
intelligence community to publicly release classified information.
H.R. 4985 would amend the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
modeled on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Kingpin
Act allows the President to designate and apply economic sanctions
against any significant foreign narcotics trafficker. This authority
provides a powerful tool to combat narcotics trafficking around the
world.
For example, just last month, the Treasury Department's Office of
Foreign Assets Control, which administers these sanctions, targeted a
Mexican drug cartel and the three brothers who run it, freezing their
assets and banning U.S. persons from doing business with them.
As with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, designations
made under the Kingpin Act may be challenged in court. However, unlike
IEEPA, the Kingpin Act contains no explicit authority for judges to
privately review classified information. This gap in authority means it
is only a matter of time until the government will be forced to choose
between disclosing classified material and allowing a confirmed
narcotics trafficker to avoid justice.
H.R. 4985 would address this issue by adding a new section that
explicitly authorizes the government to allow judges to privately
review classified information when individuals challenge their
designation as kingpins under the act. This provides a simple fix to a
gap in current law, bringing the Kingpin Act in line with the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act and improving our ability
to ensure the law functions as intended.
I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for its introduction, and I
urge my colleagues to support the legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may to consume to
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko), the author of this bill.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking Judiciary Committee
Chairman Goodlatte for his efforts and his committee's efforts in
shepherding this bill through the committee, where it received
unanimous support.
I also want to thank my colleague across the aisle, Representative
Rice. We have partnered together on many bills that have passed the
House to help keep our country safe and to keep it free from drug
trafficking. Both of us having a background as prosecutors on a Federal
level will help us going forward.
This legislation makes important changes that strengthen the Kingpin
Act and enhance the protection of classified information. The Kingpin
Act has played an important role in our Nation's efforts to fight drug
trafficking for nearly two decades. In the last two decades, I was
heavily involved with drug trafficking as a Federal organized crime
prosecutor, so I understand the importance of the statute on a
firsthand basis.
The act established a process to sanction individuals involved in
international narcotics trafficking. More than 1,800 individuals, all
non-U.S. persons, have been designated as drug kingpins by the
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control under the Kingpin Act. This
designation precludes these traffickers from using the U.S. financial
system and, in so doing, places a major obstacle in front of their
efforts to move and use their ill-gotten gains.
Many of the individuals placed on the kingpin list are put there on
the basis of classified information. The law provides a process by
which these individuals can seek removal from the list in Federal
court, but, unfortunately, the law currently doesn't protect classified
information in such delisting cases. This opens up the possibility that
some kingpins won't be sanctioned at all or will be removed from the
kingpin list, despite significant evidence of their illicit activities,
in order to protect classified information.
This bill simply makes it clear that the Office of Foreign Assets
Control may submit classified information in defense of its kingpin
designations in a nonpublic, protected setting in order to safeguard
classified information. This bill will make it easier to sanction
international drug kingpins who cause enormous problems both in the
United States and in their home countries. It will make it harder for
these criminals to carry out their dangerous and destructive drug
trade.
Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the House's consideration of this
bill, alongside several other important measures, to fight back against
the opioid epidemic gripping much of our Nation, and certainly in my
district as well.
My district has been extremely hard-hit by this epidemic as well as a
scourge of dangerous synthetic substances, which I hope to address at a
later time during this Congress. Almost every family in my district has
been affected by this epidemic or knows someone who has.
We need to fight back against the kingpins for profiteering off this
misery. It is gratifying to see the House working together across the
aisle to tackle these enormous problems, and our country will be better
off for it.
Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I want to thank the gentleman from New York for the introduction of
this bill. It closes an important gap in the statute, which will
enhance the safety of our country and provide essential review
confidentially.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I just want to echo what my good friend from
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) has stated.
As a former prosecutor, and Mr. Katko, who was a former prosecutor,
and my good friend from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), who was a mayor
and had jurisdiction over law enforcement agencies, we all know what
the importance of this legislation is.
I want to thank the authors of this. I want to thank the staff
members who worked on this. This is going to improve the lives of not
only Americans, but people around the world.
[[Page H2175]]
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend from Virginia,
Judiciary Chairman Goodlatte, his Ranking Member, Mr. Conyers, and the
gentleman and gentlelady from New York--Mr. Katko and Miss Rice--for
their work on H.R. 4985, the Kingpin Designation Improvement Act, which
deserves our support.
In the context of today's floor debate, it is important that we
discuss the extensive role of Iran's primary regional proxy--
Hezbollah--in the international drug trade.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced
that they have, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies from 7
other nations, disrupted a global criminal enterprise Hezbollah was
using to finance its participation in the Syrian conflict, as well as
to plan for a future war with Israel.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. For years, Hezbollah has had
business connections with South American drug cartels, and has been
using them to enter the narcotics trafficking business. In 2011 and
2013, the Department of the Treasury and other agencies designated core
Hezbollah members and affiliates for engaging in international
narcotics networks.
As a result, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of
2015, which I authored and passed into law in December, required
specific Administration reporting on Hezbollah's international
narcotics trafficking networks.
Unfortunately, once a terrorist organization enters this business,
they seldom leave. Sanctions relief for Iran as a result of the
Administration's flawed deal with that regime, and the resulting inflow
of Iranian money to Hezbollah will not likely cause them to turn away
from the lucrative drug industry. Rather, it may enable Hezbollah to
double down on their efforts to finance their destructive regional
activities.
For example, instead of 150,000 rockets on Israel's northern border,
Hezbollah could afford to field 300,000, financed by the Iranian regime
and Hezbollah's trafficking of narcotics into our communities.
With this in mind, it is important that we have robust Narcotics
Kingpin Designation Act authorities in place, which this legislation
ensures. I support the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4985.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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