Credit: Congressman Fitzpatrick’s Office
Returned from a five day, congress-financed trip to the Middle East, Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) has settled back into his Washington D.C. office.
The congressman, who spent the better part of last week traveling through Qatar and Turkey, traveled to the area for the sole purpose of learning more about the financing behind the terrorist organization ISIS (or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
Advertisements
ISIS has become the headline touting precision-like terror group that has beheading journalists, overtaking chaotic and torn regions; and according to Fitzpatrick, earning an estimated $3 million a day through the illicit sale of stolen oil.
Fitzpatrick, upon returning from the region, told LevittownNow.com that he expects a broader debate amongst congress in December, but that the greater emphasis needs to be on the tactics used by ISIS, or what some experts are calling, “the best financed terrorist group the world has ever seen.”
“What I saw and what I heard is that ISIS is growing stronger and Syria is in chaos and that the Free Syrian Army is not getting the help that they need,” Fitzpatrick said Tuesday. “Unlike other terror organizations, ISIS is unique from others in that they self-fund, they don’t rely on foreign donations. In the same way that money mattered to al-Qaeda, money matters to ISIS and we need to go after their money; follow the money, eliminate it, eliminate the group’s ability to expand.”
Advertisements
Fitzpatrick, Vice-Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced a bill known as the Isolate ISIS Act (HR 5431) last month before his trip. The bill, which currently has eight co-sponsors, is aimed at imposing sanctions and strict penalties for not only financial institutions that do business with ISIS, eliminating their ability to do business with United States banks, but with industries or companies that do business with a third party that is engaged in commerce with the terror group.
The congressman during his trip, met with armed forces in the area including that of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, as well as finance experts in the Middle East and direct representatives of the Free Syrian Rebels, which President Barack Obama has recently asked Congress to fund.
Advertisements
On Tuesday afternoon, Fitzpatrick reported on his trip to the oversight and investigation subcommittee for House Financial Services, spokesman Aaron Clark said.
The congressman’s trip to the Middle East was kept secret until he returned due to security concerns.
The congressman has not been without dismay from Kevin Strouse and his supporters. Strouse publicly called out Fitzpatrick based on his inability to attend Strouse’s Tuesday night town hall. Read the story here.
