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Inslee listens to a constituent.

Montage of Wing Point in Bainbridge Island and the Edmonds Ferry.

Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

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Inslee’s Anti-Terrorist Financing Amendment Passes Committee:

29 September 2004

During today’s consideration of intelligence reform legislation in the House Financial Services Committee, the Committee passed an amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) to combat terrorist financing. Inslee’s amendment, which passed by a voice vote, would help to prevent terrorists from using Internet gambling mechanisms to launder or transfer their funds. The September 11th Commission recommended that a central part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts should be to track terrorist financing. Inslee’s amendment specifically targeted provisions in the intelligence reform bill that might have expanded internet gambling, which would thereby proliferate ways that terrorists could move money to elude government tracking and detection.

During full House consideration of the intelligence reform bill, the House Republican Leadership removed the internet gambling provision. Inslee is still advocating for the conference committee to incorporate many other 9-11 Commission recommendations that were omitted from the flawed House version of intelligence reform legislation (H.R. 10).

Said Inslee, “Fighting the war on terrorism means not just physical battles, but going after the money that funds these terror networks. I am glad that my colleagues recognized the importance of eliminating possible conduits for money trafficked by terrorists. As the September 11th Commission recognized, we must take every step to combat and track terrorist financing. This includes cutting off methods, such as online gambling, which terrorists could use to evade government detection of their finances.”

Background:

Internet gambling language in the initial House Republican’s version of intelligence reform legislation (the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act) had the potential to expand online gambling – a medium that facilitates the ability of terrorists to transfer and launder money for their operations without government detection. The legislation contained an exemption from prohibitions in the bill for “lawful transactions” of state licensed businesses. This provision is ambiguous because it does not specify which state’s laws must be considered: the laws of the state in which the gambling operation is licensed, or the laws of the state where the bet is initiated.

The Department of Justice expressed concerns that such an exemption might actually increase internet gambling by making otherwise illegal transactions legal. Inslee’s amendment prevents the possible expansion of online gambling in the bill by reducing the ambiguity of this legislation.

The text of Inslee’s amendment is as follows:

AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. INSLEE

To the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute Offered by Mr. Oxley:

Page 33, line 10, after “State.” Insert the following new sentence: “For the purposes of this clause, the term “lawful transaction” means any transaction that is lawful under all applicable federal laws and all applicable State laws of both the State in which the licensed or authorized business is located and the State where the bet is initiated.”