Floor Statements

I understand that there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

I ask unanimous consent that the filing deadline with respect to first-degree amendments to substitute amendment No. 6776 to S. 4668 and first-degree amendments to the underlying bill be at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 5345 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 862, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

God bless Dolly Parton.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 816.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned to then convene for a pro forma session only, with no business being conducted, at 9 a.m. on Friday, September 18; further, that when the Senate adjourns on Friday, September 18, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of Executive Calendar No. 828; finally, that the cloture motions filed during today's session of the Senate ripen at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday.

Madam President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

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.

Mr. President, I have three requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Kevin Webb, a detailee from the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, be granted floor privileges through October 2, 2026.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the immediate consideration of S. 5389, which the Senator from Massachusetts has requested, has given her an opportunity to blast again President Trump and his family.

World Liberty Financial is not his business; it is his children's business. This body has been very reticent, for good reason, to control the economic activities of the children of Members of the Senate. This is their business, and they have very good reason to choose to go overseas to do that business--because they were debanked in the United States for political reasons. If you have a business that has accounts in American banks and you are told you have got a week to get your money out of that bank and you are going to have to make payroll, you have got a problem.

The Trump kids had a problem because, during the last administration, they were debanked. During the last administration, oil and gas companies were debanked. Firearms companies were debanked. Digital asset banks that were banking digital asset companies and were completely solvent were forced out of business. That is what happens with people who are obsessed with bank surveillance and obsessed with power--that is what they do with it--and now we are seeing it again in

Mr. President, briefly, in response to the gentleman who just spoke, the digital asset bill we are voting on tomorrow, the Clarity Act, gives the Democrats exactly what they asked for on an ethics deal. It requires the President to divest or use a blind trust, disclosure of sales, a ban on promoting your own coin, and State AG enforcement power.

Take the win.

Mr. President, I would like to conclude my remarks. We will talk Clarity tomorrow, and I would like to move into closing the Senate for today and making announcements about tomorrow's schedule.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes.

As if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on September 14, 2026, by the President of the United States: Tax Convention with Croatia and Protocol Amending the Tax Convention with Croatia, Treaty Document No. 119-2. I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 849.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.