Congressman Lawler Joins in Introducing the PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act

Congressman Mike Lawler released the following statement today after introducing the PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act of 2024 with co-leads Reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), and Jared Moskowitz (FL-23). There are over 30 cosponsors of the legislation, and Senator Tom Cotton (AR) is carrying a Senate companion bill.

"The Taylor Force Act was a noble effort to end 'pay-to-slay' terrorism in the Middle East," said Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17). "Unfortunately, years after its enactment, we still find ourselves in the vicious, ongoing cycle of 'pay-to-slay' terrorism. It must end.

"That's why I've joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to introduce the PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act, which will impose additional sanctions on individuals and entities that enable this horrific practice. This practice is a total affront to all that the United States and Israel uphold, and it must be brought to an end.

"I won't stop working with my fellow members of Congress to pass this critical legislation, and it is my sincere hope that it will receive near-unanimous support as it combats a grisly form of terrorism that goes against the most basic level of human rights,"

The PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act will crack down on martyr payments and financial rewards issued to terrorists and their families after committing bombings, stabbings, or other attacks in Israel. These “pay-to-slay” policies incentivize acts of terrorism and are often directly proportional to the number of individuals injured or killed during the attack. Congress passed the Taylor Force Act in 2018 to prohibit economic aid to the PA while they continue to operate "pay-to-slay" policies. But there is much more we can do.

The PLO and PA Terror Payments Accountability Act specifically:

• Imposes sanctions on foreign persons that facilitate terrorist martyr payments.
  
• Imposes sanctions on foreign persons that provide significant support to facilitators of terrorist martyr payments.
• Imposes additional sanctions on foreign financial institutions that process terrorist martyr payments or facilitate significant financial transactions with other foreign persons sanctioned for "pay-to-slay" conduct.
• Requires the President to implement the sanctions in this bill within 90 days.
• Includes a sunset clause if the PLO and the PA stop terrorist martyr payment policies.