Bipartisan bill introduced in Senate to stop terrorist financing

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced last week the Stop Terrorists Operational Resources and Money (STORM) Act of 2017, which seeks to provide the president additional leverage in penalizing foreign governments that fail to stop terrorist financing.

The bill was authored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Marco Rubio
(R-FL).

The legislation would authorize the President to designate a country that is not sufficiently stopping terrorism financing as a “jurisdiction of terrorism financing concern.” The designation would then enact a series of penalties, which requires the designated country to enter into a capacity-building agreement with the U.S. government to improve their ability to end terrorist financing.

Currently, the United States has the ability to designate a foreign government for allowing terrorist financiers to operate within their realm of jurisdiction. Should it be signed into law, the act would strengthen the President’s ability to ensure all foreign partners are investigating and prosecuting financiers. The legislation also authorizes sanctions on foreign banks that do business with ISIS and requires the U.S. State Department to report to Congress on the country’s capabilities of stopping terrorist financing.

“Cutting off financial resources from terrorist groups is essential in our efforts to degrade and defeat them,” Isakson said. “This bill will enable the United States and our partners to crack down on those involved in financing the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, effectively adding another tool to our fight against terrorism.”