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McHenry Statement on Biden Executive Order Regarding Digital Assets
Washington, Mar 9 -
Today, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry (NC-10), issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s Executive Order regarding digital assets: “One thing that today’s action makes clear—Congress must legislate,” said Republican Leader McHenry. “We need bipartisan solutions developed through a thoughtful and transparent process that includes market participants—not anti-innovation policies. Members of the House Financial Services Committee on both sides of the aisle are already examining the issues and opportunities raised by digital assets. President Biden must work with us. “As Congress contemplates regulatory frameworks for digital assets, we must also fully acknowledge their benefits—like the important role they have played in ushering aid to Ukrainians—and their underlying technologies, which is largely missing in this announcement. Despite some Democrats’ claims, we have not seen widespread evasion of our sanctions using digital assets by Russia, due to the transparent nature of blockchain technology. Any attempt to use the crisis in Ukraine as the rationale for today’s action is short-sighted and will not lead us to the right solutions that allow this technology to flourish in the U.S.” Background: On March 8, 2021, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry (NC-10), and the Chair of the Task Force on Financial Technology, Stephen Lynch (MA-08) introduced H.R. 1602, the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act, to require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to establish a digital asset working group to ensure collaboration between regulators and the private sector to foster innovation. On April 20, 2021, the House passed Republican Leader McHenry’s bipartisan bill, H.R. 1602, the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act, to establish a digital asset working group to ensure collaboration between regulators and the private sector to foster innovation. On April 20, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry, along with the current and former Republican leaders of the Committee’s Task Forces on Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence, French Hill (AR-02), Tom Emmer (MN-06), and Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), released a Republican staff report outlining the work of the task forces in the 116th Congress and providing recommendations as to how we can fully utilize innovation to create a more inclusive financial system. On August 11, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry released a statement slamming SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s jurisdictional power grab of all exchanges of digital assets—not all of which are securities. On August 16, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry and the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, Glenn 'GT' Thompson (PA-15), sent a letter to SEC Chair Gensler and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam. The letter directs the agencies to establish a joint Working Group on Digital Assets to give market participants and stakeholders a seat at the table alongside regulators to bring much needed clarity to this rapidly growing industry. On September 23, 2021, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022, which included Republican Leader McHenry’s bipartisan Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act. On October 5, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry introduced H.R. 5496, the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act to ensure our regulatory framework embraces new technology and innovation by providing a “safe harbor” for startup digital asset projects, while maintaining important investor protections—providing much-needed legal clarity and certainty for this rapidly growing industry. At an October 5, 2021 hearing with SEC Chair Gensler, Republican Leader McHenry raised concerns that Chair Gensler will run roughshod over appropriate process to implement Democrats’ agenda and push financial innovation overseas. Also on October 5, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry sent a letter to SEC Chair Gensler demanding he clarify his concerning and contradictory public remarks regarding the SEC’s authority to regulate the digital asset ecosystem. On October 13, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry, along with the top Republican on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Tom Emmer (MN-06), and the top Republican on the Task Force on Financial Technology, Warren Davidson (OH-08), sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking her to clarify how Treasury categorizes stablecoins and the regulatory implications that flow from its classification. On November 1, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry released a statement regarding the report on stablecoins by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). On November 9, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry introduced H.R. 5936, the Ransomware and Financial Stability Act to protect America’s critical financial infrastructure and set common sense guardrails on ransomware payments. On November 15, 2021, all Committee Republicans, led by Ranking Member McHenry, released principles to guide Congress’ evaluation of potential proposals for a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). On November 17, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry, Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-13), and a bipartisan group of colleagues introduced H.R. 6006, the Keep Innovation in America Act to fix the digital asset reporting provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now law (PL 117-58), and provide clarity to technology innovators and entrepreneurs. On November 18, 2021, Republican Leader McHenry sent a letter to Michael Hsu, the acting head of the OCC, requesting an update on the agency’s review of regulatory actions and guidance regarding financial technology, including digital assets. At a December 8, 2021 hearing, Republican Leader McHenry emphasized the importance of ensuring lawmakers seek to fully understand the opportunities the next generation of the internet could provide to Americans. On January 20, 2022, Republican Leader McHenry issued a statement regarding the Federal Reserve’s Central Bank Digital Currency discussion paper, in which he highlighted Committee Republicans’ CBDC principles. On January 24, 2022, Republican Leader McHenry sent a letter urging Chair Waters to use future hearings on digital assets to review the current regulatory environment and to prioritize the related issues that must be addressed. On January 27, 2022, Republican Leader McHenry led a bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen with all original cosponsors of his Keep Innovation in America Act. The letter urged her to provide additional clarity to America’s innovators and entrepreneurs regarding the digital asset reporting provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. At a February 8, 2022 hearing, Republican Leader McHenry outlined how stablecoins—if issued under a clear regulatory framework— hold promise as a potential cornerstone of a modern payments system. ###