[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 74 (Monday, May 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2751-S2753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY RELATING TO ``NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR
HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS: RUBBER TIRE MANUFACTURING''
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S2751, May 5, 2025, first column, the following appears:
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE
5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY RELATING TO ``NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR
HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS: RUBBER TIRE MANUFACTURING''--Motion to
Proceed
The online Record has been corrected to read:PROVIDING FOR
CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED
STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY RELATING TO ``NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR
POLLUTANTS: RUBBER TIRE MANUFACTURING''
========================= END NOTE =========================
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). The clerk will report the joint
resolution by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 61) providing for
congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental
Protection Agency relating to ``National Emission Standards
for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing''.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under provisions of 5 USC 802, there will now
be up to 10 hours of debate, equally divided.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
GENIUS Act
Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the GENIUS Act
and the urgent need to strengthen this bill before the Senate votes on
it later this week. The GENIUS Act would create a framework for
bringing stablecoins deeper into the U.S. financial system.
For those who are unfamiliar with stablecoins, they are a type of
cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to the value of another asset like
the U.S. dollar. A stablecoin is similar to a bank deposit only without
the guarantees of a bank behind it. A stablecoin is supposed to
maintain a stable value, so a holder can redeem it to get their cash
back on demand, and they can make payments with it, at least in theory.
Democrats want to work with Republicans to advance a stablecoin bill
that will make stablecoins safer to use and curb the worst abuses of
the industry. There are five areas that need revision.
First, a bill must include basic rules so government officials can't
use stablecoin ventures to line their own pockets and so that foreign
governments and giant corporations cannot use stablecoins to pay bribes
to the President of the United States.
Second, the bill must prevent Big Tech and other commercial firms
from issuing stablecoins, thereby preserving America's historical
separation between banking and commerce.
Third, the bill must include basic consumer protections--the same as
for any other financial transaction.
Fourth, the bill must safeguard national security, providing the same
guardrails as other payment systems, to make sure that we are not
turbocharging the financing of drug traffickers, terrorists,
adversaries like North Korea, and crypto scammers.
And, fifth, the bill must have sufficient safeguards so that a
stablecoin meltdown won't trigger an economywide financial meltdown.
With adequate changes in those five areas, Democrats can support the
GENIUS Act.
When the GENIUS Act was before the Banking Committee in March, Senate
Democrats worked hard to improve the bill. Together, Democrats
introduced nearly 70 amendments. We called for votes on more than two
dozen of them. Every single Democrat voted for every single amendment,
and every single Republican voted no. When the bill advanced out of the
committee, Democrats made clear they needed to see real changes in the
bill before they could vote for it down here on the floor of the
Senate.
The version that will be voted on by the full Senate as early as this
Thursday makes only minor changes, leaving fundamental problems with
the bill. I know that the Republican majority intends to force this
vote with no real changes. That would be a mistake. If the majority
wants to establish a durable legal framework for digital assets rather
than just try to score political points, they will take these concerns
seriously and agree to improve the bill.
Since the committee vote, President Trump's aggressive efforts to
profit from stablecoins and the obvious opportunities from bribery and
other influence peddling have demonstrated why it is vital that we make
meaningful, substantive reforms to the bill. So let's talk for just a
minute about how we got here.
During his first term, Donald Trump was extremely critical of crypto,
describing crypto as ``highly volatile and based on thin air''--thin
air--and highlighting that it can ``facilitate unlawful behavior,
including drug trade and other illegal activity.''
When he ran for office in 2024, however, the crypto industry poured
enormous sums of money into Donald Trump's election, and after he was
elected, crypto leaders contributed another $18 million to his
inauguration. It was no surprise when Trump reversed his position and
began to boost the industry, but it has been shocking to see Donald
Trump move at breakneck speed to use his position as President to reap
billions of dollars for himself personally and for his family.
The biggest corruption scandal in modern history is unfolding right
now, and no one in here is paying attention to it. Trump has created
the opportunity to trade Presidential favors like tariff exemptions,
pardons, and government appointments for crypto purchases that will
directly benefit himself and his family, and no one needs to speculate
on what might happen. All of this is happening in full view of the
public. Over his first 100 days, the President has enabled corruption
on such an unprecedented scale it would truly make a two-bit dictator
blush.
Most people are aware that the meme coin Trump launched ahead of his
inauguration was sagging in value recently, so his recent announcement
that he would host a dinner for the top 220 investors in the coin and
would provide an ``exclusive bonus'' VIP White House tour for the top
25 investors suddenly boosted Trump's crypto venture. Trump has already
made more than $300 million from trading fees alone and billions more
in unrealized gains since he owns 80 percent of those coins.
And this is not his only crypto grift. Two weeks after the Banking
Committee voted on the GENIUS Act in March, President Trump's crypto
company World Liberty Financial launched its own stablecoin called
USD1. Donald Junior is promoting it as ``just as safe as a bank account
but without all that extra nonsense.'' USD1 was quietly launched less
than a week ago, and its market capitalization now exceeds $2 billion.
It is already the seventh largest stablecoin in the entire world.
As the New York Times reported last week in a front-page story about
Trump's crypto corruption:
World Liberty Financial has eviscerated the boundary
between private enterprise and government policy in ways
without precedent in modern American history.
And here is the most egregious example: Trump's stablecoin was issued
on the network of Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world.
Binance is an interesting choice to be Trump's partner in the
stablecoin business. Back in 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to criminal
charges after allowing ``money to flow to terrorists, cyber criminals,
and child abusers through its platform.'' Its CEO went to jail after
also pleading guilty to criminal money laundering charges. He is
reportedly lobbying Trump for a pardon. What better way to buy off
Donald Trump than to offer him a very favorable business deal in the
stablecoin business.
The opportunity for corruption is not hypothetical. Trump has already
given us a staggering example. Last week, it was reported that an Abu
Dhabi investment firm MGX is using Trump's USD1 stablecoin to finance a
$2 billion investment in Binance, essentially giving Trump a cut of the
deal. The firm is chaired by the so-called spy sheikh of the United
Arab Emirates and co-
[[Page S2752]]
owned by G42, a firm with extensive ties to the Chinese Government. The
Trump Organization recently announced plans to build a hotel and an
apartment building in the UAE, and buyers--you guessed it--will be
allowed to make payments in bitcoins.
The GENIUS Act makes this kind of corruption worse. There is nothing
in the bill to stop it. Instead, the bill would accelerate it.
President Trump and the crypto industry are not trying to jam through
this bill because they know it will make corruption and bribery harder.
They are trying to jam it through because they know it will turbocharge
the size and scale of the stablecoin market and help boost the value of
their own stablecoin ventures, all while containing no real
restrictions on the President's self-dealing.
Under the current version of the bill, President Trump is able to
rake in transaction fees every time his stablecoin is used or traded.
When trading is active, those fees are measured in the hundreds of
millions of dollars.
Trump will also make money a second way: Everyone who owns USD1
essentially provides Trump with an interest-free loan. This means that
Trump will make money on assets backing the stablecoin, and he will pay
no interest to the holders of the coin. Big corporations and foreign
governments can run the MGX play and use USD1 to cut Trump in on
business deals or openly pay him off for tariff exemptions and other
special deals, pardons, or government appointments. For a giant
corporation hoping to see a prosecution dropped or a license granted,
Trump's new stablecoin business creates a way to offer a payoff for the
President of the United States to use his influence to get the desired
outcome.
These massive opportunities for grift must be stopped, and Democrats
have commonsense amendments to do exactly that. For example, we propose
that the President and all other elected officials and their families
be barred from owning, controlling, promoting, or otherwise
participating in stablecoin business ventures. While I believe that all
elected officials should be barred from buying, selling, and trading
stock, investments in stablecoin companies themselves create a special
risk right now. Congress is currently writing laws that will sharply
increase or decrease the value of these businesses. The public should
know that no one is making decisions to further their own financial
interests. The current version of the GENIUS Act contains no such
restrictions. The Senate should not pass a bill that facilitates
Trump's breathtaking corruption and lines his pockets and welcomes
other elected officials to do the same.
There are other fundamental problems with the GENIUS Act that need to
be fixed before we vote.
It is crucial to prohibit the intermingling of commercial businesses
and stablecoins. For centuries, our country has maintained a separation
between our system of money and payments on the one side and actual
businesses in the real economy on the other side. That separation helps
protect the stability of our financial system, helps promote fair
competition in the economy, and prevents concentrating too much
economic power in the hands of just a few.
Democrats and Republicans have, time and again, linked arms to defend
exactly this separation. For example, when Mark Zuckerberg tried to
leverage Facebook to create a stablecoin in 2019, both Democrats and
Republicans said: No. Run Facebook or run a stablecoin operation, but
do not mix the two together. Under the GENIUS Act, however, Zuckerberg
could launch his own coin as soon as the bill is passed.
This is particularly of interest to Elon Musk. He has already
explained his plan to expand his social media platform X into a payment
platform, X Money. He has said that he can use the reach of X so that,
in a few years, his X Money and his stablecoin will be ``half of the
global financial system.'' The man has vision. He and other Big Tech
billionaires would be free to issue their own currencies to compete
with the U.S. dollar.
There is absolutely no reason to allow this. Other bipartisan
stablecoin bills have not permitted this. Blessing ``co-President''
Elon Musk's ambitions to overtake the U.S. money supply is completely
unnecessary to build a well-regulated and safe stablecoin regime.
Democrats have an amendment to prohibit the intermingling between
nonfinancial companies and stablecoin issuers, and we should make that
change before we vote on the GENIUS Act here in the Senate.
It is also important to strengthen the GENIUS Act to safeguard our
national security. Stablecoins now count for more than 60 percent of
crypto transactions, according to a recent public analysis from the
blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, making them the ``new kingpin of
illicit crypto activity.'' The current version of the bill does little
to prevent stablecoins from being exploited by terrorists, cartels, and
criminals. In fact, compared to the version voted out of the Banking
Committee, the current bill creates new loopholes to allow operators of
so-called decentralized crypto exchanges and other services to continue
circulating for noncompliant stablecoin issuers.
It is critical for service providers like crypto exchanges and
custodians to maintain programs to check for illegal financial activity
and for our government to be able to sanction mixers that move millions
of dollars for our adversaries. It is important also that terrorists
and drug traffickers know that they cannot escape sanctions enforcement
by switching from dollars to stablecoins, and it is critical that
stablecoin issuers be required to monitor the blockchains on which
stablecoins are traded. As drafted, the GENIUS Act does not include
those safeguards. Democrats have language to fix that.
We need also to ensure that the same basic consumer protections that
apply when somebody pays their rent using their checking account or
buys a cup of coffee with their credit card also apply to stablecoins.
For example, at a bare minimum, consumers should have easy access to
their money if they want to redeem their stablecoins. However, the
GENIUS Act does not do that, leaving consumers exposed to potential
delays, process hurdles, and junk fees.
When it comes to consumer protection, the most recent version of the
bill actually got worse compared to the version that was voted on in
committee. The current GENIUS Act strips out certain protections,
leaving consumers exposed to fly-by-night, scammy wallet providers to
hold their stablecoins. And--get this--all but the very largest
stablecoin issuers get to evade auditing requirements, leaving
consumers vulnerable to the type of financial fraud that is now rampant
in the crypto ecosystem.
Notably, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not mentioned
once in the bill despite the CFPB being responsible for enforcing our
Nation's Federal consumer financial laws.
As Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a Senate hearing shortly after
DOGE attempted to shut down the CFPB, when CFPB is not on the job
enforcing consumer protection laws, there is no one in the Federal
Government to pick up the slack--no cop on the beat. That is exactly
what the supporters of the GENIUS Act are hoping for--no one in the
Federal Government who has the expertise or the budget to be a real cop
on the beat. The stablecoin scammer will target every person in
America, and under the GENIUS Act, they will run almost no risk of
getting caught.
The current version of the GENIUS Act leaves consumers exposed to
scams, fraud, and abuse. We can plug those holes and make sure that
consumers are protected when making electronic payments regardless of
the technology that underpins the transaction, and Democrats have
amendments for that.
Finally, the GENIUS Act lacks the basic safeguards necessary to
ensure that stablecoins don't blow up our entire financial system. This
isn't a hypothetical risk. Circle's stablecoin dipped from $1 to 88
cents in March of 2023--2 years ago--threatening a broader run on the
crypto market. But regulators bailed out Circle's and other big
corporations' deposits at Silicon Valley Bank in order to prevent a
banking crash. Money market funds and the repo market, which pose
similar risks as stablecoins, have been bailed out twice in less than
20 years.
The threats that stablecoins pose to our economic system are real,
and once
[[Page S2753]]
again taxpayers will be called on to bail out millionaires and
billionaires--only this time, it will be the millionaires and
billionaires who are fronting for cryptocurrencies.
The bill as drafted permits stablecoin issuers to invest in riskier
assets, including uninsured U.S. and foreign bank deposits and repo
loans and hedge funds, and allows them to engage in risky nonstablecoin
activities, like private credit or derivatives trading.
At the same time, the bill constrains regulators' ability to apply
capital and liquidity safeguards to limit the chances of stablecoin
failures. It restricts regulators' ability to enforce the already weak
requirements of the bill when a stablecoin issuer violates them, and it
stacks the deck against denying stablecoin applications submitted by
risky companies.
In addition, regulators would have no authority to block worrisome
mergers and acquisitions even if the new stablecoin owners have a
history of financial fraud or money laundering.
Let's just give an example here. Sam Bankman-Fried decides he wants
to buy a stablecoin company while he is still in prison. The GENIUS Act
says: Go right ahead.
Democrats have solutions to fix these financial stability weaknesses,
and we should include them in the bill now. If the GENIUS Act goes
forward without these changes, Donald Trump will continue to line his
pockets with crypto scams while his policies continue to tank the
economy for everyone else. Efforts to personally pay off government
officials like the President of the United States will accelerate, and
they are going to happen right out in the open. Big Tech billionaires
will have even greater control over our economy. Terrorism financing
and sanctions evasion risks will grow. Consumers will be at greater
risk of getting cheated. Another financial crash will be more likely.
The problems with this bill are serious, but here is the thing: They
can be solved. Democrats have offered solutions throughout this
process, and it is not too late. We can find common ground on a
reasonable framework to regulate the stablecoin market and to put those
changes into the bill now. But we cannot bless Trump's corruption and
put consumers, our financial system, and our national security at risk.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The majority leader.
Order of Procedure
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time on
H.J. Res. 61 be expired at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 6, and the joint
resolution be read a third time and the Senate vote on passage of H.J.
Res. 61, and, if passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made
and laid upon the table; further, that following disposition of H.J.
Res. 61, the majority leader or his designee be recognized to make a
motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 13 and, if the motion to proceed is
agreed to, all time be expired and the Senate vote on passage of S.J.
Res. 13 at a time to be determined by the majority leader in
consultation with the Democratic leader on Wednesday, May 7; further,
that on Tuesday, May 6, the Senate execute the order of May 1 with
respect to the Bisignano nomination at 2:15 p.m. and, following
disposition of the Bisignano nomination, the Senate resume legislative
session and the majority leader or his designee be recognized to make a
motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 7 and, if the motion to proceed is
agreed to, all time be expired and the Senate vote on passage of S.J.
Res. 7 at a time to be determined by the majority leader in
consultation with the Democratic leader on Thursday, May 8; finally,
that at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, the majority leader or his
designee be recognized to make a motion to proceed to H.J. Res. 60 and,
if the motion to proceed is agreed to, all time be expired and the
Senate vote on passage of H.J. Res. 60 at a time to be determined by
the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader on
Thursday, May 8.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________