No Incentives for Terrorism: US Implementation of the Taylor Force Act & Efforts to Stop Pay to Slay

House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans

I’m Joe Wilson chairman of the subcommittee of the Middle East North African Central Asia subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs committee. I’m very grateful today to welcome you to this hearing on these serious issues of terrorism being financed by U.S taxpayers and the reason why we need to enforce the Taylor Force Act and to stop any pay to slay.

Americans were shocked to learn that the Palestinian Authority maintains a system for paying salaries and pensions to imprisoned terrorists or the families of deceased terrorists. These outrageous systems incentivize terrorist mass murder. That’s why we’re here today and that’s why five years ago Congress passed the Taylor Force Act which said that no U.S. economic aid could directly benefit the Palestinian Authority unless the Palestinian Authority fully dismantled this grotesque pay for slay system. This made sure that no taxpayers were directly or indirectly enabling these payments for terrorism. Unfortunately, five years later terrorists are still getting their blood money.

The Biden Administration knows that the Palestinian Authority pays terrorists to injure or kill innocent Americans and Israelis through its pay to slay program and they know American taxpayer dollars are directly funding it. This is in direct violation of the Taylor Force Act and personally makes me sick to think about.

During the last year of the Obama Administration over 350 million U.S taxpayer dollars were sent to the Palestinian Authority. In 2018 President Trump cut that Aid to zero in accordance with the Taylor Force Act. Just a few months after coming back into office President Biden made the horrible decision to resume sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority which has been in my opinion directly used to fund this type of terrorism.

Watch