[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 25, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEADERSHIP OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
(Mr. AUCHINCLOSS asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R.
1664, the Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025, which passed
under voice vote. This bill gives the Department of Commerce broad
authority to pursue U.S. leadership of blockchain technology.
This is an unusual circumstance because I actually support the
legislation and supported the legislation during the last
administration because we had a Secretary of Commerce then who was one
of the finest public servants that I have had the pleasure of working
with.
Now, however, we have a Secretary of Commerce who is pushing to use
crypto to the benefit of himself and his own family, specifically his
son, who is trying to make deals overseas.
Our Secretary has strong ties to the stablecoin Tether. He spent 40
years as CEO and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, one of Tether's key
investors. He is using his and his family's weight to pitch Tether to
foreign governments across the Middle East, turning public policy into
personal profit.
The United States Government must be a free and impartial referee. We
should not be a bull or a bear on crypto. We should ensure market
integrity, force amplification of the U.S. dollar as the world's
reserve currency, but that becomes impossible when the Secretary of
Commerce is so conflicted as he is on this matter.
That is on top of the fact that the President himself has been
selling off the Presidency with the $TRUMP meme coin. We cannot allow
this administration to continue to grift off of blockchain.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Goldman of Texas). Members are reminded
to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
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