BILL AIMS TO HURT TERRORISTS IN POCKETBOOK

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 -- Two senior House lawmakers are proposing legislation
intended to cut off the flow of money to terrorists.

The measure, by Representatives Michael G. Oxley, the Ohio Republican who
heads the House Financial Services Committee, and John J. LaFalce of New
York, the panel's senior Democrat, would establish a government-industry
partnership to track terrorist money in secret offshore havens.

In measures directed at money laundering by drug traffickers as well as
terrorists, the bill would make it a crime to smuggle currency in excess of
$10,000 or to falsify a customer's identity knowingly when making a
transaction with a bank or other financial institution.

The legislation is to be introduced on Wednesday, when the committee will
hold a hearing on government efforts to disrupt terrorist finances, Mr.
Oxley said today.

"This legislation is an important first step Congress can take to cut off
terrorist funding," he said.

President Bush told lawmakers today that he wanted anti-money-laundering
provisions added to the antiterrorism package that his administration
proposed to Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon.

Last week, Mr. Bush issued an executive order freezing the assets of people
and organizations said to be linked to the Islamic militant Osama bin
Laden, the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks.

As of Monday, the president said today, $6 million had been blocked and 50
bank accounts frozen as countries joined the American effort.