Congressional Record, Senate, September 29, 2021, Page S6758
Summary
A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated September 29, 2021, at page S6758, carrying remarks by Senators who are not named in the portion read. One passage explains that stablecoins are a claim on commercial bank money or Treasurys that are intended to be redeemable at par for the U.S. dollar, and says they are a private-sector innovation with potential to promote financial inclusion but also present novel risks. Another Senator criticizes the Democrats' tax-and-spend bill, saying rising inflation is effectively a tax, that President Biden has said he would not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 a year, and that his energy policies hurt domestic production. The remarks are the speakers' own and are partisan.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Congressional Record, Senate, September 29, 2021, Page S6758.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-09-29-crec-2021-09-29-pt1-pgs6758-f13ca7b597/
, SHA-256 dd5c3f492980bf655b112cf94798efb1c1f2dcc677df0daf8a1d0e5e6f50eb02.Full text
S6758 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 29, 2021
Stablecoins are a claim on commer- reality, but, particularly right now, And now we see with every draft of
cial bank money or Treasurys or other let’s talk about it as regards inflation. the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spend
securities that are freely tradeable on Inflation is really hurting middle-in- bill that the Democratic Party seems
a distributed ledger or blockchain and come families. We are seeing higher intent on driving prices higher, in-
that are intended to be redeemable at prices in the grocery store, electricity creasing our energy dependence on
par for the U.S. dollar. Stablecoins are bills, at the gasoline pump eating up other countries, and hurting our do-
highly liquid and have higher mone- their budgets. mestic workforce. And I think, if we
tary velocity than other forms of the President Biden has repeatedly said are going to go back to reality, the
U.S. dollar. Stablecoins also enable he would not raise taxes on those mak- American people would ask not to de-
faster payments between individuals ing less than $400,000 a year, but rising scribe these actions as being done for
and businesses than are possible today. inflation as a result of his harmful eco- the good of the environment or the cli-
For these reasons, stablecoins are a nomic and energy agenda is effectively mate. I totally believe we must address
very important private-sector innova- a tax. climate, but the stark truth is that
tion that have the potential to pro- This is predictable. Democrats and President Biden’s energy policies
mote financial inclusion and new mar- left-of-center economists like Larry prioritize shutting down domestic pro-
ket opportunities. However, Summers warned about the risk of in- duction and domestic jobs in favor of
stablecoins also present certain novel flation and predicted a sharp rise in using dirtier Russian gas.
risks to the U.S. economy. prices. He sounded the alarm at the $1.9 Why do I say dirtier? There is a Na-
In particular, stablecoins must be 100 trillion American Rescue Plan. He said tional Lab that recently reported of
percent backed by cash and cash that could overheat the economy. It natural gas produced in Louisiana and
equivalents, and this should be audited did. exported to Europe compared to gas
regularly. This summer, used car prices were up
coming to Europe from Russia, that
I am concerned that some stablecoins 45 percent, gasoline 45 percent, whole
over the 20-year horizon the carbon in-
are not always fully backed by appro- milk 7.5 percent. American families are
tensity is 43 percent less for gas that
priate assets in a transparent manner. paying higher prices for goods and
comes from the United States to Eu-
I am also concerned that some services that are essential, and it con-
rope than from Russian gas coming to
stablecoin designs could become a silo tinues to go higher. The U.S. Depart-
Europe, and 10 percent less over 100
for high-quality liquid assets, including ment of Labor reported that consumer
prices in June increased 5.4 percent rel- years.
Treasurys, which have an important If you really cared about lowering
and independent role as collateral in ative to a year ago—the largest in-
greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs
capital markets. crease since August 2008, more than
for the American worker, and strength-
Additionally, stablecoin issuers double the target rate of 2 percent the
ening our economy and our national se-
should comply with anti-money laun- Federal Reserve establishes.
Now, President Biden and his admin- curity, you would encourage the pro-
dering and sanctions law and should
exhibit a high degree of resiliency. istration, his Treasury Department, duction of U.S. natural gas and ship it
This includes operational risk, cyberse- have reassured that this inflation is around the world, displacing that
curity and liquidity, and redemption transitory or temporary. which was coming from countries such
management, consistent with the Fed- Just last week, the Wall Street Jour- as Russia.
nal reported that the Federal Reserve It seems as if the administration is
eral Reserve’s payment system risk
sees inflation ‘‘lasting quite a while,’’ more interested in virtue-signaling
policy.
Some issuers of stablecoins and given their recent and upcoming ac- than truly pursuing a low-carbon solu-
stablecoin-like instruments, including tions—so, if you will, belying the reas- tion, and I would love for someone to
Paxos and Avanti Bank and Trust, are surances of the administration. explain why the administration is so
already inside the regulatory param- Looking particularly at energy, it is hell-bent on shutting down energy pro-
eter. Properly supervised, stablecoins not surprising that electricity and gas- duction in the United States, with the
are not tantamount to the so-called oline prices are soaring, and the aver- good-paying jobs and the economic op-
‘‘wildcat banks’’ of the 19th century. It age price of gas has now gone over $3 a portunity, especially in Louisiana but
may be the case that stablecoins gallon since May. The national average not only in Louisiana. And it is done in
should only be issued by depository in- is $3.19, $1 more per gallon than a year a cleaner, more environmentally
stitutions or through money market ago—now, again, predictable. friendly way than in almost every
funds or similar vehicles. One of the first things President other part of the Nation. It is as if they
We must do more to ensure Biden did when he took office was to would rather the United States be de-
stablecoins are subject to right-sized cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline, kill- pendent on foreign sources, those that
regulations and supervision. But, at ing 11,000 jobs that went with it—by are often not allies, than to produce
the same time, we must ensure that the way, not jobs for bureaucrats in energy cleanly, creating American jobs
these rules enable innovation that can Washington, DC, doing quite well dur- in the United States of America.
make payments faster, cheaper, and ing the pandemic because they con- The United States is a global leader
more inclusive. Properly supervised, tinue to get paid, but jobs for construc- in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions
stablecoins have an important role to tion workers who, if they don’t have entirely, almost, because of the in-
play moving forward. this job, don’t have another job and creased production of U.S. natural gas.
I look forward to continuing the con- have less ability to take care of their As production increased and prices
versation around financial innovation family and to better provide for their fell, natural gas replaced coal, so that
that we began a few months ago as we child’s future. now, off the top of my head, I think I
consider the future of money in our He stopped domestic oil and gas know that, in absolute amounts, green-
country. leases and only does that which the house gas emissions in the United
I yield the floor. court tells him he has to do. States are less now than they were in
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Oddly, since he did all of this in the 2004. And if not, they are almost there.
ator from Louisiana. name of addressing issues of carbon Our economy is a lot bigger, and we
ENERGY emission, the administration then re- have a lot more people, and yet we
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, the dif- moved sanctions so that Russia can have managed to hold greenhouse gas
ference between medicine and poli- complete the construction of the Nord emissions at a declining rate because
tics—because I am a doctor—is that in Stream 2 pipeline, going from Russia to we produced natural gas.
medicine, you are forced to look at re- Germany, and now is asking OPEC, We need to encourage exploration
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
ality as reality is, whereas in politics which includes Iran, Venezuela, Saudi and production in our country. We
we can make up reality. It is: Oh, my Arabia, to increase oil production so should not be shutting it down, and we
gosh, I want it to be this way; so let’s we can import their oil—so much for should not be shutting down the good
assume that it is. the energy independence our country, jobs that go with it. The administra-
I think it is a time for, at least—one, researchers, and companies worked so tion’s backward and disastrous energy
I think it is always better to look at hard to develop. policy is playing out before our eyes. It
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Sep 30, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G29SE6.018 S29SEPT1
September 29, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6759
is not good—destroying American jobs, suicidal thoughts. This multibillion- pany as large and successful as
contributing to inflation, and strength- dollar company is dragging their young Facebook would ignore the social envi-
ening the geopolitical position of our users to Hell, and they are doing it on ronment in which their young users
geopolitical rivals. The administra- behalf of a fantasy. live and scroll.
tion’s actions are directly leading to Much of the problem has to do with If you accept this general assertion,
higher gas and utility prices. the fact that, by its very nature, which I hold is reasonable, then you
There is a way out of the inflation, Instagram forces its users to confront must also accept that Mark
but it is not empty virtue-signaling. It the unattainable. Facebook’s research- Zuckerberg and the rest of Facebook’s
is not putting American workers out of ers found that young users who spend top executives were very well aware of
jobs. It is to restart American energy their day scrolling past filtered faces the real-world context behind all of
production, hold lease sales in the Gulf and lavish lifestyles can spiral into a that research, and the context will
of Mexico, and get American energy in so-called ‘‘social comparison journey’’ make you sick.
our country back on track, recreating that mimics the grief cycle. Sixty- Between 2009 and 2019, the percentage
the jobs that have been destroyed, and, eight percent of teen girls and 40 per- of high school students who experi-
by the way, increasing a greater ability cent of boys experience this when they enced ‘‘persistent feelings of sadness or
to export to other countries around the use Instagram. This is their research— hopelessness’’ increased by more than
world, helping to lower global green- their research. Sixty-eight percent of 10 percent. The percentage of high
house gas emissions. teen girls and 40 percent of teen boys school students who seriously consid-
I yield the floor. experience that grief cycle. ered attempting suicide increased by 5
I suggest the absence of a quorum. Yes. Heartbreaking, infuriating, and percent. Numbers regarding suicide
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The guess what—it gets even worse. The in- plans and suicide attempts also trended
clerk will call the roll. ternal research also shows that in the wrong direction. And even less
The legislative clerk proceeded to Facebook execs at the highest levels severe mental health crises can lead to
call the roll. were in on the scheme to use these risky sexual behavior, drug use, tru-
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I traumatized young users to pull mem- ancy, delinquency.
ask unanimous consent that the order bers of their households into This is all no secret. It is publicly
for the quorum call be rescinded. Instagram. Younger family members available information compiled by the
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without were of particular interest. CDC, accessible by anyone capable of
objection, it is so ordered. This reporting is sunshine on a par- executing a Google search.
SOCIAL MEDIA ticularly disgusting aspect of It is getting harder for our kids and
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, by Facebook’s strategy to shape the world grandkids to make it through the day.
now we are all very familiar with the in their image. They haven’t even had a chance to live
toll that COVID–19 has taken on the Facebook often touts their compli- yet, and already they are experiencing
American people. If there is cause for ance with COPPA and other child pro- hopelessness and despair. They feel so
encouragement coming from all of this, tection standards as proof of their com- terribly about themselves that they
it is that our collective experience has mitment to online safety. Oh, but if it would rather die than live another day.
helped to destigmatize mental health were only so. But the Wall Street Jour- Facebook has evidence that their
problems. nal reports show that Facebook has ac- platform facilitates these mental
The down side is that now we tend to tual knowledge that they are col- health spirals for young users. Yet they
look at everything through the lens of lecting personal information online focused on how to trick them into
the pandemic. But the fact of the mat- from kids under 13 years of age. These thinking that scrolling through con-
ter is that for millions of Americans, are children. They are suffering. But in tent that makes them miserable is
their private battles with mental the eyes of Facebook, they are the somehow healthy and normal behavior.
health began well before March of 2020. product. They are the product. They Our children are not all right, and I
It is from that perspective that I are the product that Facebook is using am willing to state for the record that
want to examine the Wall Street Jour- to get data so that they make more the people pushing success buttons at
nal’s truly excellent ongoing investiga- money. It is sickening. Facebook—they really do not care.
tion into Facebook’s refusal to address All of this and more was revealed to On September 21, the New York
the serious, and at times threatening, me and my staff by a very brave and Times published an expose on the com-
failings of their platforms. well-informed whistleblower from pany’s frankly shocking efforts to re-
On September 14, the Journal pub- within Facebook. I have been working habilitate its image by promoting pro-
lished an article revealing that closely with my colleague Senator Facebook content into user news feeds.
Facebook, Inc., executives know that BLUMENTHAL to bring this information By all accounts, this reporting backed
their popular Instagram photo-sharing to light, and I thank him and his staff the company into a corner. They were
program is toxic—toxic—especially for for being excellent advocates on behalf caught redhanded manipulating the
young women and girls. of young people and teenagers. flow of information, which is a charge
They know for a fact that 32 percent On October 5, Senator BLUMENTHAL— that in other contexts has drawn fire
of teen girls said that, when they felt Chairman BLUMENTHAL—and I will host from activists, politicians, and even
bad about their bodies, Instagram a hearing in the Commerce Consumer Facebook itself.
made them feel even worse. Protection, Product Safety, and Data In response to the well-earned back-
They knew that Instagram makes Security Subcommittee where the lash that Facebook received, Mark
body image issues worse for one in whistleblower will offer an insider ac- Zuckerberg chose to avoid account-
three girls. They knew that teens count of Facebook’s total lack of gov- ability and instead made a joke about
blame Instagram for increases in the ernance and the growth-focused tunnel an anecdote the Times reporters in-
rate of anxiety and depression. How did vision that has caused the company’s cluded regarding a video he had posted
they know all of this? Because they, leadership to ignore everything they of himself cruising around on a glori-
Facebook, had done their own research. know about the real world. fied surfboard. That is the sort of reac-
In 2019 and 2020, Facebook’s in-house At this point, I want to emphasize a tion you see from a person who feels
analysts performed a series of deep few important points we can extrapo- that they are invincible. When they
dives into teen use of Instagram that late from what we know thus far. feel like they are so rich and powerful
reveals that ‘‘aspects of Instagram ex- Facebook’s internal research re- and so totally in control of their own
acerbate each other to create a perfect vealed at the very least a strong cor- destiny that they are the master of the
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
storm.’’ This is their awareness. That relation between use of their platforms universe, that no one can touch them,
‘‘perfect storm’’ that they mention and some forms of deteriorating men- that is what you get.
manifests itself in the minds of teen- tal health in kids and teens. But here In light of all we have seen in the
agers in the form of intense social pres- is the larger issue: Even if Facebook past from this company and all that we
sure, addiction, body image issues, eat- didn’t find proof of a causal link, it is have learned so far from the whistle-
ing disorders, anxiety, depression, and unreasonable to assume that a com- blower, I think it is time to adjust Mr.
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Sep 30, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G29SE6.020 S29SEPT1
File and source
- File
- CREC_crec-2021-09-29_crec-2021-09-29-pt1-pgs6758.pdf
- Size
- 217,194 bytes
- SHA-256
- dd5c3f492980bf655b112cf94798efb1c1f2dcc677df0daf8a1d0e5e6f50eb02
- Original
- www.govinfo.gov