Bruce F. Vento: “I would say that this half trillion dollars of illegal money that is washing through our society through our banks needs…”

“I would say that this half trillion dollars of illegal money that is washing through our society through our banks needs to be regulated, needs to be addressed. We need to provide the law enforcement and Treasury and other specific officials with the authority so that they can, in fact, trace this and, in fact, effectively fight the type of creative crime that is going on in our society, especially with electronic banking and other regulations. At the same time we are very concerned about privacy, very concerned about due process. I think this bill does strike the proper balance in terms of those issues and puts in the hands of law enforcement officials at the national and State level a consistent policy with regards to this that can and will continue to need our diligence and attention to prove if it is going to ultimately be effective in dealing with the growing problem of money laundering for these diverse problems, whether it is for crime, whether it is for drugs, whether it is for other types of gambling and other types of illegal activities.”