[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 202 (Friday, November 19, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCING THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2021

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 19, 2021

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce the Wildlife 
Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act with Congressman Don Young (R-
AK), the Dean of House. I wish to thank Congressman Young for his 
support as my co-lead on this bill, the bipartisan group of 85 other 
Members who cosponsored this bill in the 116th Congress, and our former 
colleague Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) for sponsoring this 
legislation in the 115th Congress.
  Transnational organized crime can take many forms, including 
poaching, wildlife trafficking, and illegal, unreported, and 
unregulated (IUU) fishing. These activities often go hand-in-hand with 
even more heinous crimes like human trafficking and forced labor, and 
weapons and drug trafficking. Our bill would recognize this reality and 
allow serious wildlife trafficking violations to qualify as predicate 
offenses under federal racketeering and anti-organized crime laws (RICO 
and Travel Acts).
  To help bring down these global wildlife trafficking rings, our bill 
provides monetary incentives for whistleblowers who provide actionable 
intelligence on these crimes, as well authorizes the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service to station law enforcement officials and agents, 
embedded in American embassies and consulates, in countries designated 
as high-intensity wildlife trafficking areas. The funding for these 
rewards and law enforcement activities would be provided at no cost to 
taxpayers and instead come out of the penalties, fines, forfeitures, 
and restitution paid to the U.S. government. The rest of the money from 
these penalties and forfeitures would be redirected back into wildlife 
conservation efforts. These changes will allow the United States to 
provide dedicated funding to stamp out wildlife trafficking in the 
areas where it most prevalent.
  Madam Speaker, our fishermen deserve to compete in a fair seafood 
market, uncompromised by fraudulent seafood harvested with slave labor. 
Our wildlife conservation efforts deserve a dedicated funding source at 
cost to U.S. taxpayers. Our law enforcement officers deserve the fiscal 
support and access to every available tool to fight against 
transnational criminal organizations. This bill introduced today would 
accomplish all of those goals, and I want to thank my bipartisan group 
of cosponsors again for their support on this important legislation. I 
urge all Members to join us in cosponsoring the Wildlife Conservation 
and Anti-Trafficking Act.

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