FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353
March 8, 2023

Cotton, Colleagues Introduce Bill Targeting Palestinian Terror Payments

Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) introduced the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act, legislation aimed at eliminating Palestinian “martyr payments,” otherwise known as the “pay to slay” program. The bill would deter foreign banks from processing these payments for the Palestinian Authority by cutting off their access to the United States financial system.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Senator Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Senate Steve Daines (R-Montana), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), Senator John Thune (R-North Dakota), Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana) are co-sponsors of the legislation. Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) is leading companion legislation in the House.

“Radical Islamic terrorists shouldn’t be rewarded for killing innocent people, and banks should be held responsible for processing any sort of ‘martyr payments.’ Our bill will build upon the original Taylor Force Act to ensure Palestinian terrorists don’t benefit financially for committing these senseless murders,” said Senator Cotton.

“I am honored to re-introduce the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act today, alongside Senator Cotton. Our bill seeks to prevent any financial benefit these terrorists are promised for murdering innocent civilians by penalizing foreign banks that allow these ‘pay to slay’ transactions to occur unimpeded. I am pleased that this bill has already garnered bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, and I will never waver in the fight to bring justice to the Force family and all those who have been victims of these horrific crimes,” said Congressman Lamborn.

“We would like to thank Senator Cotton, Congressman Lamborn and their co-sponsors for reintroducing the Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act. The bill would provide the U.S. government with an important new tool to incentivize foreign banks to get out of the martyr payment business and to deny them access to the U.S. financial system if they do not do so. Speaking from personal experience, we can say that this is not a theoretical problem. The family of the terrorist who murdered Taylor, celebrated as a hero by Hamas, has been receiving martyr payments as a reward for his despicable actions. No foreign bank from any country, particularly those which claim to be U.S. allies, which participates in rewarding those who kill innocent Americans should be able to evade responsibility. We want to say thanks again to the co-sponsors of the bill for their leadership and for helping us ensure that Taylor did not die in vain,” said Stuart and Robbi Force, the parents of Taylor Force.  

The Republican Jewish Coalition, Christians United for Israel, and the Zionist Organization of America support the legislation.

A one-pager about the bill may be found here. Bill text may be found here.

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