Congress: 117 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for S 3318.
Sponsor: Cotton, Tom (R-Arkansas)
Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act of 2021 This bill expands the institutional factors the Department of the Treasury must consider when making a finding that a foreign financial institution is of primary money laundering concern and is therefore subject to special measures, including the prohibition of opening or maintaining correspondent accounts in U.S financial institutions. Specifically, Treasury must consider (1) the extent to which an institution knowingly provides financial services to Hamas, or to an agent of Hamas; and (2) the extent to which an institution, transaction, or type of account is used to facilitate or promote payments for certain acts of terrorism against U.S. and Israeli citizens.
This bill requires the Treasury Department to consider whether foreign banks knowingly provide financial services to Hamas or facilitate payments rewarding acts of terrorism against U.S. and Israeli citizens when deciding whether to impose sanctions that block those banks from doing business with U.S. financial institutions.
The bill creates a new basis for Treasury to sanction foreign banks, potentially targeting institutions in countries like Palestine that process payments to families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned. It effectively makes it a sanctionable offense for banks to process such payments, which Palestinians view as social welfare and Israel/U.S. designate as terrorism support.