During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) spoke about cryptocurrency legislation.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today because the United States is behind when it comes to digital assets.
00:09American digital asset innovation has faced a challenging environment with talent, investment, and development often relocating to more welcoming international jurisdictions, like Singapore, Switzerland, and the UAE.
00:23These countries have created clear frameworks specifically designed to attract blockchain ventures, while the United States has generally maintained a less-defined regulatory landscape that has inadvertently encouraged this exodus of opportunity and expertise.
00:40This week, we have the opportunity to start to change that, and we must grab the reins and ensure that all Americans are able to take charge of their financial future.
00:50The last White House blocked us, but now we have a president who not only sees the immeasurable value digital assets have, but is willing to firmly secure America's leadership in this space.
01:05Before he even took office, President Trump announced he'd tapped David Sachs to serve as the White House AI and crypto czar, ensuring we maintain America's competitive edge, and issued a blitz of executive actions targeting heavy-handed SEC tactics, slowing down progress.
01:25Under President Trump, we've seen a significant shift in the executive branch's attitude toward digital assets.
01:33It's night and day, what we experienced under the Biden administration.
01:39President Trump's promise to make America the digital asset capital of the world wasn't just lip service.
01:45It was a strategic vision, recognizing that dollar-backed stablecoins represent a critical opportunity to extend American financial influence in increasingly digital world and call to action.
02:00Decades from now, students will read about the foresight of the president and the 119th Congress in moving this issue to the forefront.
02:10I want to make clear this is not a partisan issue.
02:15I've spent years, years, working with Senator Gillibrand of New York to ensure that we've crafted a bipartisan proposal that can get across the finish line.
02:26A lot of late nights, early morning phone calls, thousands of hours of our staffs going back and forth on policy.
02:38I want to thank Senator Gillibrand and her team for all their hard work, for working with my team in good faith, for always pushing to make this legislation stronger.
02:48We have incorporated feedback from both Democrats and Republicans, many, many, many, many Democrat amendments.
03:01We have been working for days recently, days, to bring this bill to the floor and to satisfy our colleagues across the aisle.
03:10I truly appreciate everyone who is engaged on this issue.
03:14We have the opportunity now to be in the driver's seat and install common sense regulations tailor-made for American-based digital asset companies.
03:24The digital future is something to embrace.
03:28We're witnessing the dawn of a modern 21st century economy that can benefit all Americans through technical innovation.
03:35This Congress, I joined with Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee to co-sponsor his Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoin Act, or the Genius Act,
03:50legislation which provides robust consumer protections without sacrificing innovation.
03:55And now, thanks to Leader Thune's leadership, the hard work of Senator Hagerty, Chairman Scott, and Senator Gillibrand, our shared commitment to maintaining U.S. leadership in this space,
04:08we can begin the bipartisan proposal and move it one step closer to becoming law.
04:13At its core, the Genius Act protects consumers through mandatory 100% reserves, backed with U.S. dollars and short-term treasuries,
04:23monthly public disclosure of reserve composition, and strict prohibitions against misleading marketing.
04:31Put simply, this isn't just another bill.
04:33It's a comprehensive framework ensuring America leads the next generation of financial technology in stablecoins.
04:43Just minutes ago, an American was elected Pope.
04:50His name will be Leo XIV, an American leading one of the strongest religious organizations in the world.
05:00We should also be leading in financial innovation.
05:05Mr. President, I yield the floor.
05:10I recognize the senator from Tennessee.
05:14Mr. President, I want to compliment my colleague from Wyoming for the wonderful introduction that she gave.
05:20That means that I don't need to give the many, many-paged speech that I had planned.
05:24But I'd like to come to one final point, and that is for the benefit of my colleagues today,
05:28I want to take a broader view of what we're actually voting on.
05:31What we're voting on is cloture.
05:35That's a term that's used to get on the bill, to actually have the debate that we're supposed to conduct here in the United States Senate.
05:41It's the beginning of debate for a bill that fundamentally supports crypto technology and innovation here in America at the most basic level.
05:50My Democrat colleagues supported this coming-through committee on a bipartisan basis.
05:56In fact, we had a vote of 18 to 6, a very strong movement out of committee.
06:00Since that time, we have made a number of changes at their request.
06:05They've come back again with more requests.
06:07We're considering those changes as well.
06:09But for us to even begin to implement these changes, we're going to have to get on this bill in order to debate it,
06:16in order to incorporate the changes that have been negotiated.
06:19I look forward to working with my colleagues should they choose to move forward on this bill.
06:24And if they don't, I want the American public and I want everybody watching today to understand
06:29that this is a vote to kill the crypto industry here in America, and it's a shame.
06:35This is our first opportunity to deliver groundbreaking legislation to America
06:41that puts America squarely in the most competitive place we possibly could be
06:45to lead in an area of innovation where we need to be leading.
06:48Otherwise, this will be a vote to push all of that offshore.
06:52It's a vote for our strength.
06:53I want to thank the senators who have helped so much,
06:55Senator Scott, Senator Lummis from our side,
06:58and I want to thank Senator Gillibrand and also Brooks from the Democrat side.
07:02I want to thank everybody that's worked so hard on this,
07:04and I hope that we'll be able to move forward and actually get on this bill
07:06and complete our work.
07:08That I yield the floor.
07:12The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture.