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Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, we are living in a time of open government corruption that few of us thought could occur here in the United States of America. We sometimes recognize it and expect it in countries far away where authoritarian figures take a slice of every contract that moves through the government but not here in the United States of America, and yet here we are.

President Trump has planted a ``Government for Sale'' sign on the White House lawn, and individuals and foreign governments are funneling money into his pocket and his family's pocket in order to gain access and influence.

The GENIUS Act attempts to set up some guardrails for buying and selling a type of cryptocurrency--one type--called a stablecoin. We need guardrails that ensure that government officials aren't openly asking people to buy their coins in order to increase their personal profit or their family's profit.

Where are those guardrails in this bill? They are completely, totally absent. The GENIUS Act doesn't set up guardrails for the President or the Vice President. It doesn't set up guardrails that prevent an open invitation for people to buy access and influence by buying cryptocoins that increase the wealth of elected officials. Without such a guardrail, this bill should never pass.

We have the opportunity now to debate anti-corruption amendments, but I understand the majority leader has decided to cancel any amendments from being considered here on the floor of the Senate. Whether those are amendments that protect the consumer from scams in which seniors are directed to go and change their cash for cryptocoins at an ATM--a new way of sending their money overseas that doesn't go through a bank teller who might possibly warn against a scam; whether it is plugging the many holes in this bill in order to have a proper regulatory framework; or whether it is to address the open corruption, none of those amendments are going to be considered--not a one--after the majority leader promised an open amendment process.

I would say to my colleague: If you promise an open amendment process, deliver it because people made votes on the motion to proceed to this bill based on that promise, and now you have broken it. That is a breach of trust. It is simply wrong in this body, where your word is your bond.

Now, I understand that you changed your mind because you didn't like one of the amendments your own Member proposed. Your own Republican caucus Member proposed an amendment you didn't like--a convenient opportunity to prevent this body from debating a whole set of important ideas related to this bill to protect consumers, to have better regulatory safeguards, and to end the corruption that is so evident right now.

Even at this last moment, I would say: Colleagues, vote against ending debate on this bill because without those votes to protect consumers, to increase the safeguards for regulation of this industry, and to address the corruption, this bill shouldn't go forward. So vote against it, and restore the vision the majority leader laid out that we would have that type of debate on this bill when the motion to proceed was voted on.

The public deserves us having that debate as well. And shouldn't they know where we stand on these issues? Because that is the feedback loop for the next election: Where do we stand?

But if we dodge having a real debate on real issues on the floor of the Senate, they don't know where we stand on improving the regulatory safeguards; they don't know where we stand on blocking the personal scams ripping off our seniors; they don't know where we stand on the crypto scams that we are becoming so familiar with.

You have all heard of a meme coin. Maybe you haven't. A meme coin is basically a digital baseball card. And President Trump has one. It is called the $TRUMP coin. The $TRUMP coin, you can own. You can buy it. You pay a dollar to the Trump family, and you get--well, what do you get? Nothing. Nothing. You don't even get an email with a picture of a coin, but you think of it like that. You get a register on an investment site that shows you now own a dollar coin. You get nothing. This coin can't even be used to buy anything.

So what it is, is the President saying: Give me your money. Open your wallet. And I will give you nothing--nothing--of tangible value.

Maybe the closest approximation would be a digital baseball card. That is it.

Now, he held a dinner at his golf course out in Virginia. For that dinner, he said: I am going to invite the 220 people who give me the most money by buying my meme coin. Open your wallet. Give me millions of dollars. You will get a special dinner, special access, and I will give you a digital baseball card.

Anyone who thinks that those 220 people who spent some $140 million- plus to attend that dinner were seeking to buy digital baseball cards-- well, we have a London bridge to sell you in the middle of the desert in Arizona. Nobody gave the President millions of dollars through acquiring his meme coins in order to get a digital baseball card. They did it because they knew that was the price to pay for access and influence. They were responding to the ``Government for Sale'' sign on the lawn of the White House.

It isn't just conjecture that that is the case. We know it is the case because various folks told us. For example, Javier Selgas, CEO of Freight Technologies, Inc., announced that his company had bought $2 million of Trump's meme coins. They had given Trump $2 million. And he said: We want to buy $20 million. Whether they did or not, I don't know because there is no disclosure. He said ``I want to buy that $20 million of coins''--that is, to give $20 million to President Trump--so he will have a better policy regarding the movement of freight between Mexico and the United States of America.

Thank you to the CEO of Freight Technologies for laying out very clearly what everyone knew: This is a scheme to sell influence on the U.S. Government, to make the President and his family mega rich.

There is a second type of coin the Trump family is involved in, and this one can be used as currency in international transactions. Now, this type of coin--why would you use it? Well, maybe you want to launder money. That would be a good reason to use it. Maybe you want to smuggle arms around the world. Maybe you want to be involved in drug transactions. Maybe you are plotting a terrorist act. Those would be good reasons to use a digital coin rather than using dollars or another currency that is overseen by basic banking regulations around the world. You want a currency where people can't see you buy it, can't see you own it. You can buy it here and convert it back into cash somewhere else. It is great for money laundering, great for crime.

So along comes a company called MGX, and that company is headed by the National Security Advisor of the United Arab Emirates. That company says: Hey, President Trump, we will buy $2 billion of your special digital coin that we can use to invest in another company called Binance.

And with this coin, what does the President get? He gets that $2 billion--or rather his company does--and they put that into investments, and Mr. Trump and his family keep the proceeds of those investments--even if that investment is only earning 4 percent. Over the course of a year, that is $80 million being given to the President's family in order to gain influence.

What did the UAE want? They told us. United Arab Emirates said: What we want are AI chips, and we want an AI center in the Emirates. Well, that was in March, and then they announced that they are going to buy Trump's $2 billion of coins.

And then what did President Trump do? He went to the Middle East, and he said: You know what, I have a great idea: Let's give you AI chips to create an AI center in Abu Dhabi--one of the Emirates.

UAE requested a policy. They bought $2 billion of Trump coins, and Trump delivered the policy.

That is corruption. That is the Mount Everest of corruption. That is corruption at a level never seen in the history of the United States of America.

We could vote on an amendment on this bill to end that corruption if the majority leader honors his commitment to an open amendment process. So I request of the majority leader that he honor his commitment and have that open amendment process.

Otherwise, it is an endorsement of this corruption, and I don't think any Member--certainly on this side of the aisle--wants to endorse corruption. And I would suggest that I don't think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to endorse corruption.

So let's vote on an amendment to end it.

And certainly, this provision wouldn't apply just to the President and Vice President, not just to the senior adviser. It applies to us too. We shouldn't be selling meme coins as an open way for people to give us personal gifts. Not one of us should be saying: Do you want access and influence? Buy my digital baseball card and buy it at high volumes, make me a rich man, make my family rich for generations to come, and you get special access.

That is exactly what is going on right now.

Colleagues, again, this is the moment. We are on a bill related to cryptocurrencies. In fact, the entire bill is about cryptocurrencies. So let's make this the moment that we actually debate amendments that improve the regulatory structure that has been laid out in the bill, that proceeds to address some of the consumer scams, including ATMs that convert dollars into digital coins being used to scam our seniors out of their lifesavings. And, yes, let's debate amendments that end this type of crypto corruption.

Let's rip that sign off the White House lawn that government is for sale. Let's never again have a CEO say: I am buying $2 million of Trump's coins in order to influence a policy involving trade between Mexico.

Let's never again have a company tied to the Government of UAE say: We are going to buy $2 billion of Trump coins in order to influence policy and get an AI center established in our nation.

Never, never, never should our government be up for sale in this fashion, and this is the moment when we can take that on if the majority leader honors his commitment to an amendment process.

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