On Thursday, Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8) announced he was selected to serve as chairman of a new bipartisan task force. The new task force will work on improving U.S. efforts to eliminate terrorist financing.
The Republican congressman, who serves as the vice chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, announced the committee as a whole is expected to adopt a resolution that formally creates the task force next week.
Advertisements
“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.” Fitzpatrick told LevittownNow.com back in October after spending five days in the Middle East.
Due to House rules, committee task forces have a six month limit. The newly formed task force is expected to complete its work by the end of September.
“As the United States pushes back against the tide of terror and extremism that is the enemy of freedom and peace everywhere, it must do so with every tool available – including within the financial system,” said Fitzpatrick. “It is my hope that this new task force will encourage and produce true bipartisan measures to devastate and disrupt the ability of terror groups to finance and fund their warped ideologies.”
Advertisements
“Deterring terrorist activity is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it’s an American issue,” said Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Committee’s Ranking Member. “I hope that this task force is able to embrace our common goal of making America more secure by working together in a non-partisan manner to prevent banks and other financial institutions from supporting terrorist groups.”
