U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) spoke about worldwide threats to religious freedom at the International Republican Institute (IRI) John S. McCain Freedom Award Celebration. Senator Rubio presented this year’s award to Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a prominent victim of the...
News
Latest News
Rubio: DHS Must Do More to Fully Implement UFLPA
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced 26 additions to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. While this is welcomed news, the Biden Administration has yet to include exporters who are tainting the United States’ supply chain...
Rubio-led Resolution to Raise Awareness of DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Passes Senate
Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related death among children in our nation. Unfortunately, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is the leading form of pediatric brain cancer deaths. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jack Reed (D-RI) led a...
ICYMI: Rubio Attacks Petro’s Backfiring Policies
Petro’s Backfiring Policies Imperil Two Decades of Colombian Progress U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) May 14, 2024 Medium [As Colombian President Gustavo Petro] reneges on his campaign promises and prepares to rewrite the Colombian constitution in his favor, his...
Por Si Se Lo Perdió: Rubio sobre las Políticas Contraproducentes de Petro
Políticas del presidente Gustavo Petro ponen en peligro dos décadas de progreso en Colombia 16 de mayo del 2024 El Tiempo El 6 de mayo el grupo terrorista ELN, una vez más, anunció que retomaba los secuestros porque el gobierno colombiano no cedió a sus demandas...
Rubio: Foreign Influence Will Be a Part of Political Debates, Not Just Elections
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) delivered closing remarks at a hearing on foreign threats to the 2024 elections. “I just know that this is going to get far more complex, and I predict it won't just be about elections, it...
Rubio, Colleagues Urge Treasury to Fully Implement Corporate Transparency Act
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Acting Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Himamauli Das regarding the delayed implementation of Rubio’s Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which was signed into law in 2020 (P.L. 116-283).
“The Treasury Department has yet to finalize the implementation of the CTA—or even set a timetable for its completion,” the senators wrote. “In various hearings last month, both of you could only commit to proposing the second CTA rule by the end of ‘this year.’ These delays run contrary to the clear instructions of Congress, undermine American efforts to respond to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and hinder broader efforts to protect the U.S. financial system against the threat of illicit finance.”
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) also signed the letter.
Rubio first introduced the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act with Senator Wyden in August 2017. In August 2018, Senators Rubio, Wyden, and Whitehouse succeeded in passing bipartisan legislation to lay the groundwork to expand a Treasury initiative to curb foreign nationals laundering money through high-end real estate. In December 2020, Rubio secured anti-money laundering and beneficial ownership provisions, modeled after the CTA, in the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act . In May 2021, Rubio and colleagues sent a bipartisan comment to FinCEN urging the efficient, effective implementation of a beneficial ownership reporting system, as required by the CTA. The Miami Herald also published an in-depth report on Rubio’s continued efforts to crack down on dirty money in real estate.
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Secretary Yellen and Director Das:
We write to urge the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to swiftly implement the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Passed by Congress last year, the CTA is landmark legislation to upgrade our country’s anti-money laundering laws. “For years, experts routinely ranked anonymous shell companies— where the true, ‘beneficial’ owners are unknown—as the biggest weakness in our anti-money laundering safeguards.” The CTA directly tackled this problem by requiring FinCEN to create a national registry of beneficial owners of companies within the United States, bolstering our nation’s efforts to combat kleptocracy, transnational crime, terrorism, and other illicit activity.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has only amplified the importance of the CTA. The federal government cannot properly implement sanctions against Putin and his oligarchs if it does not know the full extent of their holdings. But recent reporting suggests that the Treasury Department presently lacks this information, underscoring the urgent need for beneficial ownership disclosure as required by the CTA to protect America’s financial stability and national security.
Nevertheless, the Treasury Department has yet to finalize the implementation of the CTA —or even set a timetable for its completion. We appreciate that FinCEN is working with limited resources, and Congress is working to remedy that through the appropriations process. Still, over four months after the statutory deadline for implementation, FinCEN has only proposed one of its three CTA rules. In various hearings last month, both of you could only commit to proposing the second CTA rule by the end of “this year.” These delays run contrary to the clear instructions of Congress, undermine American efforts to respond to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and hinder broader efforts to protect the U.S. financial system against the threat of illicit finance.
For these reasons, we respectfully request that FinCEN immediately accelerate its implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act and provide an update and a detailed timeline on your efforts to do so no later than May 23, 2022. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,