Cynthia M. Lummis

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Mr. President, in a few minutes, the Senate will vote on one of the most important, consequential, bipartisan financial services bill in a generation--the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Before we do, my colleagues need to understand exactly what is at stake. I have spent every single day of the past year fighting to get the Clarity Act ready for prime time because Wyoming did not send me to Washington to watch America fall behind. My State sent me here to make sure we lead. Today, this body decides whether we keep that promise or sideline American leadership. Wyoming wrote the blueprint for regulating digital assets in the United States and, in many ways, the world. In 2017, the Wyoming Legislature embarked on a mission to create a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework for digital assets that protects consumers and promotes responsible innovation. The Wyoming Legislature was the first legislative body in the United States to draw the line between a security and a commodity. It was the first to safely integrate digital assets into our Nation's banking system in a safe and sound way through special purpose depository institutions. And Wyoming was the first jurisdiction in the Nation to create a new legal entity for decentralized, unincorporated, nonprofit associations. A Wyoming special purpose depository institution was also the first depository institution in the history of our banking system to earn a master account from the Federal Reserve. The successful Wyoming blueprint is the foundation of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of today. This is not a partisan bill--not even close. Democrats secured 126 separate concessions in this text, and they wrote more than half of the 630 pages in front of you. This bill started at 300 pages. It stands at 635 because I sat across the table from my colleagues for an entire year and took every objection seriously and built those changes into the bill ourselves. That is not capitulation. That is what legislating in good faith looks like--something this body, far too often, forgets how to do. Nowhere--absolutely nowhere--have we given more than on ethics in this bill. In July, President Trump voluntarily put himself, the Vice President, every judge, federally elected official, and their spouses under the strictest ethics restrictions this country has ever seen. Almost no one in Washington would have offered that on their own, but Democrats still wanted more. They wanted independent outside enforcement. So President Trump went back to the table, and he gave more. This final text reflects substantially all of the Tillis-Gallego framework, built on top of what was already historic. State attorneys general now have direct authority to enforce these ethics rules against Federal officials themselves. They can go after exchanges and issuers under consumer protection law so bad actors get hit coming and going. No President has ever gone this far, and this President did it twice. Let's be honest about what a ``no'' vote actually is today. It is not a principled stand against the President. It is not a vote against a bill that has had a partisan flare. It is a vote to protect politicians' personal crypto holdings from the very limits Democrats demanded and got. It is a vote against the consumer protections American families are counting on, and it is a vote to hand the future of financial innovation to a foreign competitor who will not be foolish enough to waste this chance to lead our global digital economy and onshore this industry and the good- paying jobs it creates. This country put the first man on the Moon. We built financial institutions, and we built the internet. We do not watch history happen to us. We make history. We should not stop that tradition today. Madam President, 635 pages, a full year of daily negotiations--daily, even on weekends--126 Democrat wins written into law, the strongest ethics restrictions any President has ever accepted, in writing, right here, this is what good faith looks like. This is what compromise looks like. And in a few minutes, my colleagues will decide whether or not it meant anything at all. I have given this fight everything I have from the moment I was sworn in as a U.S. Senator--and especially over the last year. For so long, this fight has been mine and that of my incredible partner and dear friend Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's and Chairman Scott's and Chairman Boozman's, Senator Tillis', Senator Moreno's, and many of my colleagues who have walked alongside me in this fight for this industry to bring us to this moment. Today, this fight belongs to the whole body. President Trump gave more than anyone in this town expected--twice. It is time for this body to take yes for an answer, take the win. Stand with American innovation. Stand with American consumers. Stand with American leadership. Do not let this day be the day we handed our future to someone else because we were too afraid to finish what we started. Let's vote yes. Let's not only join the 21st-century economy, let's not only join the digital age, let's lead it. Let's define it. Let's make it work for America and the world. Let's vote yes. Let's get this done.