[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4894-S4895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Facebook Cryptocurrency

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, yesterday the Banking Committee heard from 
one of Facebook's executives about, if we can believe this--it almost 
doesn't seem possible--how Facebook wants to create its own monopoly 
money. That is right, after scandal after scandal with Facebook, where 
they betrayed the public trust, with the damage they have done to 
journalism and the damage they have done to democracy, the compromising 
and betrayal of people's privacy.
  Again, believe it or not, even the United Nations said what Facebook 
did to contribute to the humanitarian disaster in what we know as 
Burma, Myanmar, where literally hundreds of people died--the United 
Nations said Facebook contributed to the genocide. That almost doesn't 
sound believable, but they contributed to the genocide, a U.N. report 
said, in that part of the world.
  Now, after scandal after scandal, Facebook expects Americans to trust 
them with their hard-earned paychecks. It is pretty breathtaking.
  When you think about it, in this body, you know what happens when 
corporations want something. They always get it. With the leadership in 
this body and with the White House looking like a retreat for Wall 
Street executives and the big banks, they always get what they want.
  When have big corporations ever been held accountable? Look how the 
majority leader and President Trump treated Wall Street banks. Of 
course Facebook thinks they can make mess after mess, they can refuse 
to clean it up, and they face no consequences.
  We know that big banks scam customers and break laws. Not only do 
they get away with it, they get rewarded. Last year, as we know, this 
Congress passed and President Trump signed legislation rolling back 
laws protecting working families from Wall Street greed, as if Wall 
Street weren't doing well enough. They had record profit and record 
executive compensation.
  Remembering 10 years ago and what happened with Wall Street--there is 
a collective amnesia in this body. My

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colleagues seem to forget what Wall Street did to our country 10 years 
ago.
  I have said this on the floor before, and I will say it again: My ZIP 
Code in Cleveland where Connie and I live is 44105. That ZIP Code had 
more foreclosures in 2007 than any other ZIP Code in the United States 
of America. I still see the remnants of those foreclosures--high levels 
of lead-based paint, homes abandoned, property values going down. Yet 
this Congress and President Trump want to do more for Wall Street.
  The big banks ask for weaker rules, even though it put millions of 
families at risk--job losses, the evisceration of retirement plans, 
people losing their jobs, people losing their homes. President Trump 
said: OK. Let's do what the banks want.
  The year before that, Congress passed and President Trump signed a 
$1.5 trillion tax cut for corporations, big banks, and the richest 
Americans. Since the Republican tax bill passed, corporations have 
moved jobs overseas. They spent hundreds of billions of dollars on 
stock buybacks because the executives apparently weren't making enough 
money with their record compensation. Corporations have spent $1 
trillion in these stock buybacks. Of the eight companies with the most 
stock buybacks last year, half of them were on Wall Street.
  The big banks and the big investment houses have done very well with 
this Trump economy. They have done very well because of the goodies 
this body continues to bestow on them.
  One thing we also know is that Wall Street can never get enough 
handouts. They always want one more. Not too long ago, a bank lobbyist 
said: ``We don't want just a seat at the table, we want the whole 
table.'' That is so brazen and arrogant. Unfortunately, this Congress 
and this President seem to want to give it to them.
  They let banks haggle over their stress test results. We require 
these banks to take a stress test, but before they take the test--
imagine getting to do this in high school or college. Before you take 
the test, we will tell you a little more about what will be on the 
test.
  They take away consumers' right to have their day in court when banks 
scam them.
  They go easy on foreign megabanks. You could name them. So many of 
the foreign banks have gotten their way so often in this body and done 
damage to our economy.
  We gave them breaks in the rulings that the Federal Reserve made. 
Last month, we saw the Fed once again go easy on Wall Street banks 
during their annual stress test. They basically gave them extra credit 
for even submitting to these tests at all. What does that mean for the 
giant banks? The Fed will let them do even more stock buybacks. The Fed 
ought to understand that megabank CEOs are not playing T-ball, where 
everyone gets a participation trophy just for showing up; they are 
playing with family's lives.
  We know all over the country what happened to people's retirement, 
what happened to their jobs, what happened to their homes. People in 
this town may have collective amnesia and have forgotten the financial 
crisis and housing crisis, but families who lost their homes and jobs 
and retirement savings and their college funds haven't forgotten what 
happened. This town has forgotten what happened 10 years ago, and it 
could happen again.
  The more we roll back these rules and look the other way when 
corporations want to take big risks--not with their money but with 
other people's money--the higher the chance one of these big risks 
doesn't pay off. You know who pays the price. You remember who paid the 
price 10 years ago when the economy tanked because of Wall Street greed 
and Wall Street overreach. When Wall Street bets don't pay off, it is 
workers, families, taxpayers, and people in my neighborhood who pay the 
price. It is your money they are gambling with.
  Hard-working Americans face real consequences when they break the 
law, and so should Wall Street executives.