French Hill Promotes Foreign Assistance Package: ‘We Want Ukraine To Have The Arms They Need’

4 months ago

On Tuesday, Rep. French Hill (R-AR) questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on foreign arms assistance during a House Financial Service Committee hearing.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00This time has expired. I recognize myself for five minutes. Madam Secretary, it's great to

00:04have you before the committee. It's been more than two months since President Biden signed the Repo

00:09Act into law, and I'd like to see it swiftly and fully implemented by the president. I wrote to

00:15you in May, joined by Congresswoman Waters and Congressman Meeks to encourage the administration

00:21to do that. And while I support doing all we can to help Ukraine eject Putin, I have several

00:29concerns about the extraordinary revenue acceleration loan package announced by the

00:33G7 leaders last month. I question whether this plan can really work in practice.

00:39Under the Repo Act, the president already has the authority to go after Russian sovereign assets in

00:44the United States, and I believe these frozen assets should be legally seized, the ownership

00:49converted, and those funds deposited in the Repo contemplated trust fund. I think that's in the

00:55best interest of Ukraine, the U.S., and our G7 allies, and I think it sends the right message

01:02that we're leading Congress on a bipartisan basis past this law. We want tough sanctions. We want

01:09Ukraine to have the arms they need, and we need the financial deterrence that Repo brings. As

01:15Margaret Thatcher told us years ago, this is no time to go wobbly. I'd like to know how we're

01:21implementing that law. Will you commit to meet the mandatory deadlines as required by Section 104

01:26of the Repo Act starting July 23rd? Well, we will meet the requirements of the act, but let me say

01:35we were very pleased with the passage of the Repo Act. It provides Treasury and the administration

01:42with an important set of tools, and we think all options should be on the table. However,

01:49we also believe a strength of our response to Putin has been that we have a global alliance

01:57that has worked together in support of Ukraine, and so we have looked for an approach that our

02:06allies, particularly the G7 and the European Union, could be supportive of that would deliver

02:14significant revenues to Ukraine. And as I think you know, the G7 leaders in June did endorse...

02:24I do. I know, Madam Secretary. Let me reclaim my time just to use it effectively. And I thank you

02:29for your leadership, but the Repo Act, as Mr. Meeks and Ms. Waters and I point out, it does

02:34give more strength. We should be leading and use that full tool, because we know the support is

02:39there in Europe if we'll provide that leadership. What's the total amount, now that you've had this

02:46two months, of frozen Russian central bank assets held in the Federal Reserve here in the United

02:52States? It's a relatively small amount. I understand that. Could you give us the amount, please,

02:58ma'am? I mean, it's on the order of five or six billion dollars, and so it's not...

03:04Most of the assets are held in Europe. I understand where the assets are held. Thank

03:09you. Let me switch subjects. FIT21, I want to thank you. I want to thank Undersecretary Lange

03:15for the work you did on looking at our digital assets regulatory framework, which we worked on

03:22mightily over the last year on a bipartisan basis. I particularly want to thank the White House for

03:29the statement of administration policy, which says that you're eager to work with Congress on

03:34developing legislation for digital assets to ensure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework.

03:40Do you continue to commit for the balance of this Congress to work with the committee and in the

03:45Senate to achieve a regulatory framework for digital assets? Yes, very much so. I'm happy to

03:52make that commitment, and we have worked productively together. It would be nice to

03:58see this reach a good conclusion. On another topic related to digital assets, you know,

04:03the SEC and the CFTC are consistently taking opposite legal positions in federal court

04:11on digital assets. In your capacity as the Financial Stability Oversight Council leader,

04:17what are you doing to bring the CFTC and the SEC together and be on the same page about

04:23this matter? Well, I mean, it's not the job of the Financial Stability Oversight

04:29Council to adjudicate differences. No, but you're supposed to quarterback

04:34financial risk. Are you quarterbacking between the CFTC and the SEC on this dispute?

04:40Not really. Our view, we have done a report on the risks connected with cryptocurrency and

04:49digital assets. And our risks have to do with holes where there's a lack of authority.

04:56Right. I agree, and you're working constructively with us. Thank you. In my time remaining,

05:00I'm going to submit some questions on the multilateral banks and what I think is a

05:04preference that China is seeking, and we need Treasury to push back on that.

French Hill Promotes Foreign Assistance Package: ‘We Want Ukraine To Have The Arms They Need’

Category

Transcript

Recommended