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INTRODUCING THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2021
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HON. JOHN GARAMENDI
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, November 19, 2021
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act with Congressman Don Young (R-
AK), the Dean of House. I wish to thank Congressman Young for his support as my co-lead on this bill, the bipartisan group of 85 other Members who cosponsored this bill in the 116th Congress, and our former colleague Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) for sponsoring this legislation in the 115th Congress.
Transnational organized crime can take many forms, including poaching, wildlife trafficking, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. These activities often go hand-in-hand with even more heinous crimes like human trafficking and forced labor, and weapons and drug trafficking. Our bill would recognize this reality and allow serious wildlife trafficking violations to qualify as predicate offenses under federal racketeering and anti-organized crime laws (RICO and Travel Acts).
To help bring down these global wildlife trafficking rings, our bill provides monetary incentives for whistleblowers who provide actionable intelligence on these crimes, as well authorizes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to station law enforcement officials and agents, embedded in American embassies and consulates, in countries designated as high-intensity wildlife trafficking areas. The funding for these rewards and law enforcement activities would be provided at no cost to taxpayers and instead come out of the penalties, fines, forfeitures, and restitution paid to the U.S. government. The rest of the money from these penalties and forfeitures would be redirected back into wildlife conservation efforts. These changes will allow the United States to provide dedicated funding to stamp out wildlife trafficking in the areas where it most prevalent.
Madam Speaker, our fishermen deserve to compete in a fair seafood market, uncompromised by fraudulent seafood harvested with slave labor. Our wildlife conservation efforts deserve a dedicated funding source at cost to U.S. taxpayers. Our law enforcement officers deserve the fiscal support and access to every available tool to fight against transnational criminal organizations. This bill introduced today would accomplish all of those goals, and I want to thank my bipartisan group of cosponsors again for their support on this important legislation. I urge all Members to join us in cosponsoring the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 202
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