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Today, the the House Financial Services Committee is holding a National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing, led by Subcommittee Chair Warren Davidson (OH-08), to examine the history of the Bank Secrecy Act and hear about FinCEN's operations and the status of the Beneficial Ownership reporting regime.

Read Subcommittee Chair Davidson’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:

"Good morning, I want to welcome Director Gacki to today’s National Security Subcommittee hearing, 'Evaluating the Financial Crimes Network.' This is the third hearing with the Director of FinCEN, as required by Section 5336(c)(11) of the Corporate Transparency Act.

"Today provides a public forum to examine FinCEN’s operations, the troubled status of the Beneficial Ownership Information reporting regime, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, and the history and impact of the Bank Secrecy Act.

"The goal is to assess these tools for targeted reforms that enhance security without trampling on privacy and innovation. This testimony should help Congress assess how these frameworks target real threats like terrorist and cartel financing networks.

"The big question is how to do this while avoiding the surveillance of law-abiding Americans and small businesses.

"The Bank Secrecy Act was enacted in 1970 with a narrow, good intention: to create transparency against organized crime's infiltration of our financial system.

"Over decades, it's morphed into a bloated surveillance machine, demanding endless reports from banks and businesses without delivering proportional results.

"Today, this is dangerously outdated. The BSA's one-size-fits-all mandate wastes resources and erodes freedoms, often stifling innovation.

"In recent years, the Bank Secrecy Act, Corporate Transparency Act, and Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 have proven ineffective and overly cumbersome.

"For example, FinCEN's own data shows that from 2014 to 2023, law enforcement agencies only accessed about 5.4% of the millions of currency transaction reports (CTRs) filed under the BSA—highlighting how this flood of paperwork buries real leads in bureaucracy instead of stopping bad actors.

"And on the CTA front, we've seen FinCEN issue overbroad rules that treat every mom-and-pop shop in Ohio as a potential money launderer, forcing disclosure of personal info to a federal database with minimal safeguards against hacks or misuse.

"That's not security; that's an invitation for abuse, as we've witnessed in cases like Operation Chokepoint 2.0, where suspicious activity reports were weaponized against lawful gun dealers and crypto innovators without due process.

"While millions of American businesses are relieved by March’s delayed enforcement of the CTA’s BOI mandates, they await clear guidance from FinCEN for what the future looks like.

"It's time for a Final Rule to be issued, underscoring the need for FinCEN to focus on high-risk foreign threats, not domestic overreach.

"Meanwhile, true threats—like Chinese fentanyl cartels laundering billions through U.S. real estate or Russian oligarchs evading sanctions via anonymous shells—slip through because resources are tied up in compliance theater for compliant Americans.

"We need to index outdated CTR thresholds for inflation and codify the full repeal of the CTA's BOI mandates on U.S. business owners, as multiple courts have signaled. This hearing is our chance to demand accountability."