Legislation was recently introduced in the House that would require the Departments of State and Treasury to adopt recommendations of an October 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which addressed the effectiveness of the U.S. government's efforts to assist other countries in the war on terrorism. Among other things, the bill would require the Treasury Department to submit in an annual report to Congress more complete information on how the agency tracks and blocks terrorist assets. Although the bill does not include all the GAO recommendations, it opens the door to discussions on the effectiveness of Treasury's strategy, including how it deals with charities, especially since the strategy is inconsistent with the State Department's December 2006 "Guiding Principles on Non-Governmental Organizations". Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI), David Scott (D-GA), and House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R. 1993, the Counter-Terrorism Financing Coordination Act, on April 17. In addition to the annual reports to Congress, the bill requires each agency to fully outline and agree to responsibilities in carrying out counter-terrorism financing training and technical assistance in a "Memorandum of Agreement." The major problems highlighted in the 2005 GAO report, "Terrorist Financing: Better Strategic Planning Needed to Coordinate U.S. Efforts to Deliver Counter-Terrorism Financing Training and Technical Assistance Abroad", reflect the overall flaws with anti-terrorism financing programs that also greatly impact charities. For example, since the assets of U.S.-based Muslim charities were frozen, no information has been provided about what Treasury plans to do with the money or even an exact amount of how much charitable aid is dormant. In Treasury's 2005 Terrorist Assets Report to Congress, Treasury estimated these designations have resulted in more than $13.7 million in frozen assets. As the GAO report also notes, a lack of meaningful measures only leaves uncertainty as to how effective, if at all, freezing charities' assets has been in stopping terrorist financing. "The lack of accountability for Treasury's designations and asset blocking program creates uncertainty about the department's progress and achievements. U.S. officials with oversight responsibilities need meaningful and relevant information to ascertain the progress, achievements, and weaknesses of U.S. efforts to designate terrorists and dismantle their financial networks as well as hold managers accountable." The detailed reports called for in H.R. 1993 could shed light on the fate of charitable funds and demonstrate the need for procedures to allow the funds to be used for the charitable purposes for which they were intended.