Political Quotes

“I thank Chair Waters for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this bill. I am encouraged by the dialogue and collaboration that has taken place between the House Financial Services Committee and the House Ag Committee on this bill. I believe in the potential of distributive ledger technology. I am, in fact, the co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus and perhaps the only Member of Congress who has actually programmed a blockchain client. However, I cannot support this bill in its current form. To that end, my office submitted three constructive clarifying amendments, none of which were made in order by the Rules Committee. This legislation contains several fatal flaws. First, this legislation largely shifts oversight of the digital assets industry away from the Securities and Exchange Commission which has a long track record of successfully protecting retail investors from abuse in the financial markets toward the CFTC which has traditionally overseen markets with significantly less retail participation. Secondly, it would create a safe harbor for wannabe pirates through a so-called intent to register that shields crypto firms from SEC investor protection rules before the agencies even have time to write the rules. Thirdly, the bill was not crafted through regular order.…”