FC: Rep. Ron Paul: Reject "anti-terrorism" Internet gambling bill

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

To his credit, Rep. Ron Paul (http://www.house.gov/paul/) was the lone 
member of the House financial services committee to vote against this 
Net-gambling "anti-terrorism" bill.

Previous message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02649.html

-Declan

*******

From: "Singleton, Norman" <Norman.Singleton () mail house gov>
To: declan () well com
Subject: RE: House panel bravely thwarts terrorists -- by banning Net-gambling
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:30:41 -0400


Here is Congressman Paul's statement:

Mr. Chairman, the so-called Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001
(HR 3004) has more to do with the ongoing war against financial privacy 
than with the war against international terrorism. Of course, the federal 
government should take all necessary and constitutional actions to enhance 
the  ability of law enforcement to locate and seize funds flowing to known 
terrorists and their front groups. For example, America should consider 
signing more mutual legal assistance treaties with its allies so we can 
more easily locate the assets of terrorists and other criminals.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing on reasonable measures aimed at 
enhancing the ability to reach assets used to support terrorism, HR 3004 is 
a laundry list of dangerous, unconstitutional power grabs. Many of these 
proposals have already been rejected by the American people when presented 
as necessary to "fight he war on drugs" or  "crackdown on white-collar 
crime."  Even a ban on Internet gambling has somehow made it into this 
"anti-terrorism" bill!

Among the most obnoxious provisions of this bill are: expanding the war on 
cash by creating a new federal crime of taking over $10,000 cash into or 
out of the United States;  codifying the unconstitutional authority of the 
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCeN) to snoop into the private 
financial dealings of American citizens; and expanding the  "suspicious 
activity reports" mandate to broker-dealers, even though history has shown 
that these reports fail to significantly aid in apprehending criminals. 
These measures will actually distract from the battle against terrorism by 
encouraging law enforcement authorities to waste time snooping through the 
financial records of innocent Americans who simply happen to demonstrate an 
"unusual" pattern in their financial dealings.

HR 3004 also attacks the Fourth Amendment by authorizing warrantless 
searches of all mail coming into or leaving the country. Allowing 
government officials to read mail going out of or coming into the country 
at whim is characteristic of totalitarian regimes, not free societies.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to reject this package of 
unconstitutional expansions of the financial police state, most of which 
will prove ultimately ineffective in the war against terrorism. Instead, I 
hope this Committee will work to fashion a measure aimed at giving the 
government a greater ability to locate and seize the assets of terrorists 
while respecting the constitutional rights of American citizens.




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