John Culberson: “With immense respect to my good friend, the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, the Congress has already…”

“With immense respect to my good friend, the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, the Congress has already passed the PATRIOT Act. The Secretary of the Treasury was required under the PATRIOT Act to prescribe regulations that set forth minimum standards for financial institutions to open a bank account. The authorizers have already spoken on this, and the law requires the minimum requirements for banks to verify the identity of a person opening the account, to maintain records of that person's identity, and consult lists of known or suspected terrorists. I would not have offered this amendment in subcommittee and full committee, and the Committee on Appropriations would not have felt it necessary to put this in the bill, had the Treasury Department honored the PATRIOT Act. In the opinion of the Committee on Appropriations, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) has objected to the Treasury Department's rule. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) stated that he believes the reference to regulations adopted by Treasury are insufficient to address the intention of the PATRIOT Act to accurately identify and track individuals opening bank accounts. The law could not be any clearer.”