“Welcome, everyone, to another markup at the House Financial Services Committee.
“Today, we will consider a slate of fintech, housing, and national security legislation.
“Before we dive in, I’d like to explain how we ended up with only five bills. As we all are aware, twelve pieces of legislation were originally noticed for this markup.
“Due to circumstances outside of our control, the floor schedule was changed to make today the last day of legislative business this week. This significantly reduced the time we have for today’s markup.
“I remind my colleagues on both sides that neither I nor the Ranking Member controls the floor schedule.
"My plan is to have the committee vote about an hour before floor votes are called. What we can vote on depends entirely on the speed and efficiency of our debate.
“I know we all have priorities we would like to see this Committee move—I, of course, am no exception. It’s unfortunate that the schedule forced us to truncate this markup, but an announcement on consideration of the remaining bills is forthcoming.
“So, let’s get started.
“Like most of our markups this Congress, several of the bills under consideration today are bipartisan.
“First, we will advance a bipartisan resolution—led by Congressmen Flood and Nickel—to overturn the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.
“After Chair Gensler tried to tuck a major policy change into so-called staff guidance, the GAO ruled SAB 121 constitutes a rule. So now, our Committee is taking action to rescind this misguided rule and ensure Americans can custody digital assets in one of the safest ways possible—through highly regulated banks.
“Second, we will consider legislation out of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee.
“We will advance two bills—led by Congressman Lawler and Congresswoman De La Cruz—to bring much needed accountability and transparency to HUD.
“Congressman Lawler’s bill will require, for the first time, the HUD Secretary to testify before this Committee annually. This would bring HUD on par with most of the agency heads under our jurisdiction.
“Similarly, Congresswoman De La Cruz’s legislation will require HUD’s Inspector General to testify every year.
“For an agency with more than $77 billion in budget authority and more than nine thousand employees, these basic oversight requirements should be a no brainer. Both changes will help the agency and this Committee function better. They will also ensure HUD is appropriately utilizing taxpayer resources.
“If we’re serious about prioritizing HUD and housing, both bills should be universally supported.
“Next, we will consider a measure from Congressman Fitzgerald to hold bad actors accountable for abusing our financial system for illicit purposes.
“The bipartisan Combating Money Laundering in Cyber Crime Act will ensure the Secret Service has the tools to investigate any and all money laundering crimes. This includes money laundering involving digital assets or cybercrime.
“Finally, we will markup Ranking Member Waters’ Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act.
“I appreciate all of our members for putting forth thoughtful solutions to tackle these critical problems.
“I’ll close by reiterating what I’ve said at every markup this Congress: my door is always open. If there is an issue that interests you or a problem you want to address, come talk to me. I can’t guarantee a successful outcome or even that we will always agree. However, where we can find common ground, I’m committed to finding solutions.
“I look forward to today’s debate and I yield back.”
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