Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Internal Revenue Service Relating to ``Gross Proceeds Reporting By Brokers That Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales''--

Floor Speech

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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, today's vote to proceed on this Congressional Review Act resolution should be renamed the ``Elon Musk `Get Out of Jail Free' Card.''

This resolution gives Elon Musk the ability to launch his xMoney site without worrying about breaking the law and getting caught. Of course, this is also a ``get out of jail free'' card for others like, Apple Pay and Google Pay and other online platforms that handle people's money, and there is a good reason to oppose it.

This bill is another example of how Republicans in Congress, in conjunction with President Trump and Elon Musk in the White House, are sticking it to families and middle-class consumers all over America and declaring it open season for fraudsters. In fact, just a few hours ago, Trump and Elon dropped the Agency's lawsuit against Zelle and the big banks that own Zelle for failing to protect consumers from being scammed out of nearly $1 billion on their app. Now Republicans are trying to roll back the CFPB's ability to protect Americans from getting scammed on payment apps like Venmo and Cash App, and they are making it easier for unelected billionaire Elon Musk to cheat American consumers and line his own pockets.

So here is the back story: Musk bought Twitter, lost buckets of money, then decided he could recover and make more money by setting up a new financial services arm called xMoney. Now, in ordinary times, he could do that, but the CFPB would be responsible for enforcing consumer financial laws for xMoney. It would also be authorized to examine the books and records to prevent illegal practices and make sure that consumers are getting a fair shake. But co-President Musk doesn't want that, and Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are willing to do Elon's bidding, and that is what brings us here today.

They want to roll back a rule called the larger participant rule that was put in place to protect consumers from abuses on these apps and to ensure that these apps are being monitored for following the law, just like banks get monitored for doing the same kinds of things.

The rules protect consumers' privacy when they use digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay. The rules also help companies get their money back when they get defrauded on PayPal or Cash App or Venmo.

Frankly, the rule is great for consumers. It cracks down on tens of millions of dollars of fraud--fraud that has surged in recent years. It protects consumers' privacy, ensuring that apps are not taking your private spending data and selling it to anybody who comes along. It helps prevent debanking, a problem that my colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle have spent a lot of time talking about.

The CFPB rule protects consumers' peer-to-peer accounts from being closed or frozen without notice or justification. It prevents these apps from unfairly depriving consumers of funds that they need to be able to buy stuff. Three-quarters of all Americans have used these peer-to-peer apps, and millions of Americans have had the sad experience of getting ripped off on peer-to-peer payments apps like Venmo and Cash App and PayPal.

Now, if you think that you are dealing with a legitimate person on the other side and then the next thing you know your money is gone and you are left without any recourse, that is wrong, and it is even worse if it happens because a payment app isn't meeting its basic responsibilities of preventing fraud on its own platform. The CFPB rule helps to protect those millions of Americans who use payment apps, making sure that both their personal data and their money are safe.

This is a rule that is good for consumers, but it is not good for billionaires, who have figured out how to make money by defrauding those consumers. It is a very familiar story now. President Trump and the Republicans are on the side of the billionaires. They are acting to help out their pals Elon and Jeff and Mark. Hard-working people who just want their payment apps to work and who don't want to get cheated as part of the deal are the ones who will lose.

Never mind that this is the Agency that works so hard for the little guy. Never mind that the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion directly to American consumers who were cheated. Never mind that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to kill this rule, and they are trying to kill the entire Agency.

Musk and Republicans in Congress are moving quickly to take the financial cop off the beat. They are hoping that people across this country won't notice or that people are so distracted and overwhelmed by everything else that is going on that they won't try to stop them.

But your eyes are not fooling you. It is happening in plain sight.

Ahead of Donald Trump's speech tonight at the Capitol, Republicans are voting to hurt millions of American consumers. Why? Just to protect Elon Musk's business ventures from a financial cop on the beat who would make sure that he follows the law.

I hope the American public is paying attention tonight. I hope my Republican colleagues are paying attention here in the Senate as well. It is not too late for them to reconsider this vote.

Make no mistake, Elon Musk locked the CFPB's staff out of the building to protect his own payment app boondoggle, and now he wants Congress to block this rule to legalize his boondoggle.

And, next week, Republicans intend to mark up legislation that would clear the decks for Elon to issue xMoney as his own stablecoin without guardrails to protect consumers, to protect national security, or to protect the financial stability of our entire country.

The line between right and wrong is clear. On one side, Senate Democrats are standing up for Americans who just don't want to get cheated when they use a financial app, and on the other side, we have got con men, rip-off artists, Elon Musk, and Big Tech billionaires. Which side will our Senate Republicans choose?

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