[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 164 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 21, 2021

  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of en bloc amendments #2 
and #3 which include three of my amendments that will improve 
transparency in our overseas contingency contracts, make our sanctions 
regimes more effective, and strengthen our ability to combat illicit 
financing networks.
  My first amendment, #252, reauthorizes the Commission on Wartime 
Contracting which will engage in vital oversight of our contracting and 
reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where we 
conduct contingency operations.
  This Commission has a proven track record of helping us reduce waste 
and fraud in overseas operations contracting. Indeed, in its prior 
iteration, from 2008 to 2011, the Commission found between $31 billion 
and $60 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds that were lost due to contract 
waste, fraud, and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Now that the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan after 20 years, and 
as we prepare to end our combat mission in Iraq by the end of this 
year--after 19 years of war--it would be irresponsible not to examine 
what came of the hundreds of billions in contract dollars spent during 
these operations.
  Amendment #253 comprises the language of two vital bills. The first 
is the Combating Illicit Finance Through Public-Private Partnerships 
Act, which would expand the mandate of the interagency supervisory team 
convened by the Department of the Treasury to examine strategies to 
improve public-private partnerships to counter illicit finance by 
including sanctions evasion and other illicit financial activities. The 
amendment also contains the provisions of the Strengthening Awareness 
of Sanctions Act, which would establish within the Office of Foreign 
Assets Control (OFAC) a voluntary public-private information sharing 
partnership among law enforcement agencies, national security agencies, 
financial institutions, and OFAC, which will allow for a more effective 
administration and enforcement to better administer and enforce 
economic and trade sanctions.
  This illicit finance amendment will ensure that the sanctions we 
impose are able to successfully cut off the funding that allow bad 
actors to continue to carry out terror attacks, traffic in drugs, 
humans, and weapons, pose threats to the U.S. and our allies, and cause 
instability around the world.
  Finally, amendment #254 directs the President to re-establish the 
Afghanistan Threat Finance Cell. This interagency effort would bring 
together law enforcement, military, and financial intelligence 
resources to identify, target, disrupt, and dismantle illicit financial 
networks.
  Like the Commission on Wartime Contracting, the Afghanistan Threat 
Finance Cell has also proven itself as an effective body: not long 
after its establishment in 2008, it was the first organization to 
reveal an interdependent web of links between corrupt Afghan officials, 
criminals, drug traffickers, and insurgents. Thanks to the efforts of 
the Threat Finance Cell, the Executive Branch took action to pursue 
broad efforts to address and combat Afghan corruption.
  While the Afghanistan Threat Finance Cell ended in 2014, this effort 
remains just as important, especially now that the U.S. no longer has 
an in-country military presence. The renewed Cell will serve a critical 
role in tracking and disrupting the use of threat finance by insurgent 
groups and other illicit actors, while augmenting the oversight work of 
regional financial investigative units. Only by eliminating the sources 
of funding can we effectively take on the terrorists, drug traffickers, 
and other criminal elements that continue to feed into the corruption 
and instability in Afghanistan.
  Inclusion of these amendments will strengthen congressional oversight 
and government transparency, as well as bolster the effectiveness of 
our sanctions, and provide vital tools with which to combat fraud, 
waste, and corruption.
  I would like to thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Rogers for 
including these three amendments in the two en bloc amendments. I would 
urge all Members to support the passage of these en blocs.

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