mr. chairman , i rise in support of this amendment . 
combating terror finance is a nebulous , often difficult aspect of our fight against terrorism . 
but strength in this area is critical to our overall success in detecting , tracking and stopping terrorist activity . 
we 've made remarkable progress in this area in the last 4 years in developing and sharpening our tools for combating terror finance . 
but we still have more work to do . 
that 's why i created with a number of my colleagues the bipartisan congressional anti-terrorist financing task force , to bring focus on the multitude of policies , agencies and jurisdictions which have a bearing on our effort to combat terror finance . 
like the task force , this amendment offered by my colleague from pennsylvania is representative of the continuing need for improvement . 
it strengthens our ability to detect and disrupt the financial lifelines upon which terrorists rely . 
it sets out severe penalties for terror financiers and clarifies the authority of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute illicit financial transactions . 
importantly , this measure acknowledges the vulnerability of informal value transfer systems such as hawalas to terrorist finance and money laundering . 
this amendment helps the fight against terrorist finance . 
i encourage my colleagues to support the amendment and the underlying bill . 
