Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the passage of the GENIUS Act, and I thank Chairman Hill for his extraordinary leadership, not just in this Congress, but for a long time advocating for this moment. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for persevering and working and marshaling bipartisan, bicameral support. I thank him for his tremendous leadership.

I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil) for being a subject- matter expert and working in a bipartisan way to build a bipartisan coalition for this moment.

There has been a lot of talk, Mr. Speaker, made in this term of Congress about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It is a historic piece of legislation, no doubt. It is going to supercharge our economy. It is jet fuel for our economy. They are the biggest tax cuts we have ever seen in this country's history. Yet, I would argue, with all respect, that, arguably, the most important and most transformational pieces of legislation in this Congress are these bills that we are talking about here today, the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.

It is paramount that we send this historic piece of legislation, the GENIUS Act, to the President's desk because this bill is the first of its kind in creating a regulatory framework for the future of stablecoin issuance in the United States to revolutionize finance and payments in this country and around the globe.

Not only will this cement us, the United States, for decades to come as leaders and innovators in the digital asset space, but it will, importantly, protect the U.S. dollar's dominance and increase demand in our Treasury market.

In the GENIUS Act, stablecoins become pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by high-quality liquid assets.

Mr. Speaker, in stark contrast to what my friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Casten), was arguing, this actually prevents these other so-called stablecoins from actually thriving in the marketplace.

You are going to have stablecoins that actually are stable. That is why we need the bill. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Casten) is actually making the argument for us. He is making the argument for why he should support the GENIUS Act. It is because of unstable stablecoins that are out there. Those products will lose ground in the marketplace after we pass the GENIUS Act.

It will ensure that consumers are protected while reaping the benefits of blockchain technology. The GENIUS Act will allow for scalability to occur in the stablecoin marketplace, ensuring American consumers and businesses have access to this innovative product.

Both banks and nonbanks can issue stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, bringing together the best actors in both the traditional finance space and the new era of digital finance.

The GENIUS Act provides that all appropriately regulated banks, including the U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations, which are supervised by the Federal Reserve, are treated equally to their U.S. peers.

This is particularly important with respect to the issuance, reserve and custody services, and bank capital requirements irrespective of whether they are deposit insured since the act prohibits stablecoins from being covered by FDI insurance.

A robust, well-regulated stablecoin market eliminates any justification for a government controlled Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, which jeopardizes Americans' access to freedom, privacy, and apolitical private capital.

This is an important point for all of my colleagues on my side of the aisle who share my concern and opposition to a CBDC. If you want to put a dagger in the heart of this crazy surveillance state idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency, pass this bill. I urge all Members to vote for this bill, vote for the GENIUS Act, which will eliminate all arguments for a CBDC.

With the GENIUS Act, we will increase the speed and decrease the cost of payments. We will decrease and eliminate friction from our payment system. If all Americans see housing their deposits via a CBDC at the Federal Reserve as a risk-free proposition, they would be incentivized to pull their money out of private-sector banks.

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Mr. BARR. Just to conclude, we want to avoid eroding the deposit base and starving the private sector of conventional bank financing. The GENIUS Act will not erode the deposit base. It will allow banks to issue and custody stablecoins and participate in this emerging crypto economy cementing the dollar as the world's reserve currency, protecting consumers and the deposit base, and supercharging the Treasury market.

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