Political Quotes

“I rise to speak in opposition to Amendment No. 365, Senator Paul's amendment concerning suspicious activity reports, or what is referred to as SARS. This amendment would prevent the Department of Treasury from requiring any financial institution to submit a suspicious activity report unless law enforcement first requests the report. If this amendment should become law, it will effectively take away one of the government's main weapons in the battle against money laundering and other financial crimes. It will also negatively impact our efforts to detect and follow the flow of funds to and from international terrorists. It is important to remember that SARS are essentially tips from third-party financial institutions concerning suspicious transactions. Because law enforcement is not watching the financial transaction of every American on a daily basis 24/7, they often have no idea that a person is even engaged in a financial crime until they receive a suspicious activity notification from a financial institution. In a sense, SARs are not much different than the tips that law enforcement often receives from anonymous sources. These tips or leads can often form the basis for initiating investigations that can be used to neutralize criminal or terrorist activities. The problem with this amendment is that it would require the government to look into a crystal ball in order to figure out when they should request a SAR.…”