'It Didn't Have To Be This Way': Patrick McHenry Bemoans Current Digital Asset Policy

3 months ago

During debate on the House floor, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) spoke in support of a measure to override current regulations on digital assets.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within

00:03which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the veto message

00:08of H.J. Res. 109. Without objection.

00:13Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of overriding President Biden's veto of H.J. Res. 109.

00:20It didn't have to be this way. It did not have to be this way. On digital assets,

00:26on the regulation of digital assets, on the functioning of a new asset class that a

00:32substantial number of Americans and in the world are using a new set of technology.

00:39But the Biden administration has been given every opportunity to work with this Congress

00:47on digital asset policy and to come to a reasonable conclusion on digital asset policy.

00:53In May, Congress passed a resolution to overturn the Shares Exchange Commission's

00:58SAB 121 with broad bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.

01:04And a lot has changed since that time. Following that vote, the House passed historic digital

01:10asset market structure legislation called FIT 21 with an overwhelming two-thirds support of

01:17this chamber. In divided times, a vote like this in this chamber is a substantial statement

01:23of the validity of that policy. That means that 71 members of the President's own party

01:30voted for that bill. Today's vote should mirror the support of FIT 21,

01:38given that this policy change was also in that legislation they voted for.

01:45SAB 121 is one of the most glaring examples of the regulatory overreach that has defined

01:51Chair Gary Gensler's tenure at the Securities Exchange Commission. It limits consumers' options

01:57to safely custody their digital assets, upending decades of bank custody practices,

02:04and increasing concentration risk. This is real consumer harm that is now in the marketplace

02:12because of the rules, because of these rules that Gensler's put in place. Congress used the

02:19mechanism available to us, the Congressional Review Act, to overturn this harmful so-called

02:25guidance. To be clear, a bipartisan CRA sends a strong message. A bipartisan Congressional Review

02:32Act vote that passes both chambers, well, that's a mandate from the Americans we represent.

02:40Despite all the recent progress and bipartisan agreement, President Biden vetoed

02:44the first digital asset-specific legislation that ever passed the House and the Senate.

02:53It's never been clearer. This administration would rather play politics and side with

02:58power-hungry bureaucrats over the American people and over new technology and the safe use

03:06of new technology. So I urge my colleagues to support today's resolution, overturn the veto,

03:12and take a small step to bring sanity to the American digital asset policy landscape.

03:18And I reserve the balance of my time.

'It Didn't Have To Be This Way': Patrick McHenry Bemoans Current Digital Asset Policy

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