Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2969, the Financial Technology Protection Act of 2023 sponsored by my colleague Representative Nunn from the great State of Iowa and Representative Himes. As its sponsors recognize, the benefits offered by emerging financial technologies, including digital assets, including peer-to-peer technologies and blockchain-based exchanges, can be a boon to consumers and industry, providing speedy transactions, anonymity, and lower costs. It is important that we encourage this innovation here in the United States. These same traits, however, can be abused by bad actors for laundering money and obscuring ownership and source of funds allowing traffickers, terrorists, kleptocrats, and other bad actors to move and hide their operational assets and the proceeds of their crimes. This bill establishes a public-private independent financial technology working group to combat terrorism and illicit financing to make related recommendations to Congress for new financial crime legislation and regulations. All Members of this body should support efforts to detect and defer illicit finance while encouraging responsible innovation that will propel our country and our economy into the future. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1630”