Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “the problem of counterfeiting of currency is serious and getting worse in a number of places throughout the world.…”

“the problem of counterfeiting of currency is serious and getting worse in a number of places throughout the world. Terrorists, rebels and drug traders seek more money with which to ply their deadly trades. Some seek to destabilize economies or governments, or merely to get something for nothing. And with the rapidly improving computer technology--scanners, color printers and powerful PC's available very inexpensively--it isn't even necessary anymore for counterfeiters to know how to run a complicated printing press. Recognizing this trend, the Committee on Financial Services, and then the House last fall, included two items aimed at strengthening anti-counterfeiting efforts around the world as part of the anti-money laundering portion of the USA PATRIOT Act, the first major Congressional reaction to the terror attacks of September 11. One of the pieces of legislative language was aimed at helping our Secret Service, the government's anti-counterfeiting agency, help arrest and more severely punish people who counterfeit U.S. currency, or people who counterfeit foreign currency while on U.S. soil.”