Financial Freedom in America
Floor Speech
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Utah for sharing some of the time tonight to talk to the American people about some of the important priorities that House Republicans have put on the floor for consideration in the House this week.
House Republicans believe strongly that capital formation, jobs, careers, and opportunities are essential to economic growth in our Nation.
America's economic growth leads the world right now. We are so blessed to have relatively low unemployment and ample work, but we are also leading in technology. That is at the heart of what House Republicans have had on the floor today.
First, let's talk about the internet. What has been more forceful in our lives, all of our lives, for the past three decades? The internet.
Back in 1996, in this Chamber, in this House, former Congressman Chris Cox of southern California, later an SEC chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, was on this floor and he said: We should not try to regulate or tax the internet. The internet is just a computer program; it is a computer platform. Let's tax and regulate the kinds of activity that take place on the internet.
This House made the decision, and the Senate joined, to leave the internet as an open platform for collaboration. Think about that and the effect on the last three decades.
If we had not had the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and that resolution to not overregulate and hamstring the internet by Federal intervention, you wouldn't have the smartphone technology in your pocket. You would not be shopping and having your dog food delivered to your house every month. It has been amazing to see how the protocols written on the internet as open-source technology benefited our country.
After email, it allowed us to set up our own marketing platforms on the internet, so-called Web2, where we set up websites, we had interactivity with our customers, we sold products, we serviced products, and we took payments.
Now, it is time for people to have an opportunity to write applications on a blockchain, what we call Web3. We want to own our own data. We don't want our data to be owned by Google or by Facebook or by Big Tech. Ideally, we would like to own our own data, have our own data privacy, and all of that is made easier and more effective by writing applications on a blockchain.
Today, in the House, we had a big vote. We have 435 Members here in the House, and 279 Members voted in favor of the Republicans' proposal for a regulatory framework for digital asset technology. This is setting up the regulatory framework so that if you want to write an application on blockchain and you want to raise money around that, do venture capital effectively, right now there are no rules of the road for that, zero.
There is a regulatory gap, and that regulatory gap is in the purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Right now, we have people who want to do Web3 applications. They want to write programs for blockchain, they want to raise money for that and have that technology expand, but they are stymied by the existing laws and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Our fit for purpose act that we passed today by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote sets up that framework. It directs the SEC and it directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission what to do and how to have the right laws and the right regulations so that people can trade digital assets. Like bitcoin is a digital commodity, it is a cryptocurrency, but this affects, as I say, the future of technology in developing new forms of financial services that will lower costs for consumers, give people more choice, let people own their own data and have greater privacy and have less intrusion from Big Tech, own more of what they create, and get paid for sharing what they create.
All of that, in my judgment, is at the heart of Web3 internet development. The bill today, supported overwhelmingly by the Republicans and 71 Democrats who joined us for a total vote of 279 votes on the House floor means that, once again, there is a bipartisan consensus that we want America to lead in technology.
It is just like that bipartisan consensus back in the 1990s led by Chris Cox so long ago that gave us the ability to have competitive new technology for cellular telephones and for an open internet so that we could creatively use it to build our businesses.
I want to thank some people who have helped make this a success over the past 1\1/2\ years working on this: G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Patrick McHenry, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. If we didn't have Patrick's and G.T.'s leadership then this wouldn't have been a priority in this House. Working with Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Speaker Mike Johnson, it became a priority for this House.
My hat is off to Chair McHenry and Chair Thompson for their leadership.
It may sound like a small thing when you don't work here, Mr. Speaker, but to see two large authorizing committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, Agriculture and Financial Services, working seamlessly together, it is a big deal. They produced this bill. I was proud to work on it with them with my colleague on the Agriculture Committee who does digital assets on the Agriculture Committee, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota.
The four of us led this effort, but we had help from our whip, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, and Warren Davidson who have been leaders in decentralized finance, Fintech, and blockchain for years, long before this bill came to the floor. They were essential to that effort.
Now for my friends on the other side of the aisle, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Ritchie Torres of New York, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, and Ms. Caraveo of Colorado, these were outstanding leaders on the Democratic side of the aisle who worked tirelessly with Republicans to draft this law to convince the American people that we do work together on this House floor, we do put America first, and we do put American leadership in technology first. A vote of 279, as I say, is a big vote in the House on a bipartisan priority to set the right course for a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Who benefits?
Consumers, investors, inventors, and people who want to create new ways for you and me to do financial services and do healthcare together on a blockchain benefit. I think this is an exciting prospect. I think it was an important step for the House.
The second bill that we will be debating tomorrow is also led by Republicans. It, again, says that the private sector should lead, not the public sector, not Big Government when it comes to digital payments.
Many in the Democratic Party support something called a central bank digital currency where you would actually end up banking at the Federal Reserve bank, and your lack of privacy and your private information could be compromised because you would be embedded in this large digital payment system called a central bank digital currency.
Republicans are opposed to that. We prefer the private sector innovate in payments, as you see today in your own life, Mr. Speaker, Venmo, Zelle, and peer-to-peer payments, those are products of the private sector. Writing a check is part of the private sector. Making a debit card payment or a credit card payment is a product of the private sector.
We believe that is also the case when it comes to a tokenized payment stablecoin. We believe that should be a product of the private sector and not of the Federal Reserve or the central government.
Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, you will see House Republicans come to this floor and say that we do not want this administration, or any administration, to move forward with a central bank digital currency without a direct authorization of the Congress because we believe, as I say, so strongly in the private sector leading the way in payments and in the innovation for blockchain technology.
We will probably come to this House floor later in the year with a private-sector driven payment stablecoin bill led by Mr. McHenry of North Carolina.
To my friend from Utah, I say that those are some of the highlights today that I think show that on a bipartisan basis, the Republicans are leading in technology in this House.
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Utah for yielding.
I think that is an important comment that this vote of 279 sends a strong message to the Senate that this House has done their homework and that this House is prepared to advance technology that protects consumers, offers opportunities for investors, lets America lead, and brings capital back to the United States that has left the U.S. due to the uncertainty and lack of leadership from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the lack of authority in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
I hope this is a sign we can work together with our friends in the Senate and that we can make law in this financial technology advance and, as you say, not just have a messaging bill. Recognizing Julie's Sweet Shoppe in Conway, Arkansas
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the heart of each of our communities.
I rise today to recognize the efforts of a good friend, a great entrepreneur, and one of my constituents, Julie Goodnight, and her bakery, Julie's Sweet Shoppe in Conway, Arkansas.
Julie began her career in the bakery industry at the age of 17 as she worked for her father's bakery, Ed's.
As the granddaughter of two World War II veterans, Julie loved how her father's shop provided a place for local veterans to meet and share their stories over a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
Beginning at Ed's in the 1990s, Julie worked to honor these local heroes by celebrating them with an annual Veterans Day event, and when Julie finally got that amazing opportunity that every American entrepreneur dreams of, opening her own shop on Veterans Day in 2013, she continued this amazing family tradition.
Since its founding, Julie's Sweet Shoppe has honored over 1,000 local veterans at its annual Veterans Day celebration.
I have had the honor of attending every Veterans Day event at Julie's, and I have seen firsthand the impact she makes on our community.
I thank Julie's Sweet Shoppe for their outstanding service to our veterans in central Arkansas and to wish them continued success in all of their endeavors. Syrian Emergency Task Force, 2024 Community Partner of the Year Award
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit based in central Arkansas.
In May, the University of Central Arkansas awarded SETF with the 2024 Community Partner of the Year Award for their work to relieve the suffering of those in Syria from Bashar al-Assad's deadly regime.
In 2011, the Syrian Emergency Task Force was created in response to the Syrian Government's war on its own citizens, many of the targets of which were innocent kids. It was called the Syrian Emergency Task Force because they thought it would be a short-term emergency in 2011. Here we are a decade later, and they are still hard at work on behalf of ordinary people in Syria.
Last summer, I was honored to visit the beautiful children at SETF's sponsored school for orphans, the Wisdom House, in northwest Syria. While there, I heard devastating stories from these children who endured continuous bombardment by the Assad regime and their Russian or Iranian coconspirators resulting in more orphans on the street and more families displaced.
Under UCA graduate and SETF executive director Mouaz Moustafa's leadership, SETF works with those in the region and beyond to bring the voices of the Syrian people to the international stage. They are determined to create a safe and free Syria, away from the Assad dictatorship.
I thank President Davis and many other leaders at the University of Central Arkansas for their support of SETF and their support of the organization's efforts to make a difference in the lives of the Syrian people who are suffering at the hand of the Assad regime's barbarism.
The SETF is more than deserving of this award. I am proud to continue to work alongside of them in Congress in combating the Assad regime and helping them to be a strong advocate for helping the innocent people regain their freedom and regain their country. BSA 2024 Silver Buffalo and Antelope Awards
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize these Scouters from the Natural State Council who have been awarded national recognition in 2024.
The Silver Antelope, created in 1942, honors Scouters who have demonstrated exceptional character and provided distinguished service within one of Scouting America's 16 territories across the country.
The Natural State Council is delighted to see the recognition of Ray Dillon of Little Rock and Anthony Sitz of Conway as the 2024 winners of the Silver Antelope Award.
The Boy Scouts of America would not exist without the foundational help of their volunteers. They make scouting successful. The responsibility for ensuring that our youth receive mentorship and guidance that they need to develop as strong leaders rests with volunteers like Ray and Tony. I congratulate them both on this national recognition of their decades of service. National Guard Professional Education Center's 50th Anniversary
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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Guard Professional Education Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
In 1974, then-Governor Dale Bumpers recognized the need for a place to train National Guardsmen and -women from across the country, and he knew Arkansas would make the perfect home for such a facility.
Beginning with an inaugural class of 30 soldiers from 12 States, the PEC now serves over 20,000 National Guard members from around the country every year at their base in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
For 50 years, the Professional Education Center has been committed to the important work of ensuring the readiness of our National Guardsman to respond to the challenges of today and the unknown challenges of tomorrow.
The PEC at Camp Robinson is a credit to Arkansas and the Nation, and I thank them for their service and dedication. I know the next 50 years of our Professional Education Center on Camp Robinson will be absolutely just as productive and successful.
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