WASHINGTON—A pair of anti-money laundering bills are expected to be merged and head to the House floor soon after Congress returns from recess this week.
The House Financial Services Committee voted 55-0 in May to advance one of the bills, a measure co-sponsored by Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) and Steve Stivers (R-OH) that would update the framework used by federal investigators to combat money laundering.
The sponsors of the other bill, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Peter T. King (R-NY) had hoped for a similar level of GOP support, but — despite delaying a month to negotiate with ranking member Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC) — only saw 10 Republicans back the measure, which would curb the use of anonymous shell companies, Roll Call said.
By combining the two bills, backers hope to get more Republicans to vote in favor of the corporate disclosure measure — including Stivers, who voted against it in committee, Roll Call reported.
Cleaver’s bill seeks to beef up staffing at the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), encourage more coordination between FinCEN and Justice Department investigators, require the attorney general and Treasury secretary to consider raising the monetary threshold for banks filing suspicious activity reports and update the definition of “coins and currency” to include cryptocurrencies, Roll Call said.
Beneficial Owners Disclosure
Maloney’s bill would require corporate entities to disclose the identities of beneficial owners to FinCEN, making it harder for bad actors to hide assets through a series of limited liability companies.
After the two bills are merged into one, it will largely match a measure introduced recently by a bipartisan group of eight Senate Banking Committee members. Backers hope strong House support for the combined Maloney-Cleaver bill either this week or the week after will pressure Senate Banking Chairman Michael D. Crapo (R-ID) to mark it up this year and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to schedule it on the floor soon after, Roll Call said.