Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill, introduced by Senators Grassley and Klobuchar, aims to make it harder for criminals and terrorists to move money. It doubles the maximum prison time for smuggling large amounts of cash across borders from 5 years to 10 years and adds heavy new fines for people caught breaking these laws.
• The proposal closes a loophole regarding blank checks. If someone carries a blank check for an account with more than $10,000 to avoid reporting rules, it will now be treated the same as carrying $10,000 in cash. It also allows the government to combine several smaller transactions to prove someone is trying to hide illegal money.
• For the first time, international money laundering laws would specifically apply to people trying to evade U.S. taxes. The bill also makes it a crime to possess tools or machinery used for counterfeiting money with the intent to defraud, and it gives the Secret Service more power to investigate these financial crimes.
• The Treasury Department would be required to study how "remittances"—money sent by individuals to people in other countries—are being used by drug cartels and human traffickers. While the goal is to stop crime, the study must also look at how new rules might affect regular people who send money home to their families legally.