In the News
ICYMI: Whip Emmer talks bitcoin, Kamala Harris, and more
Washington,
July 29, 2024
WASHINGTON – In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Reporter, Majority Whip Tom Emmer discussed Gary Gensler’s failures as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), speculation that Kamala Harris could tap Gensler or Elizabeth Warren to be her Treasury Secretary, and more. The full transcript can be found here. In case you missed it… Interview: Rep. Tom Emmer on bitcoin, banking, 2024, and more Minnesota, a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican president since 1972, is emerging as a swing state this election. Rep. Tom Emmer (R., Minn.), the state’s highest-profile Republican and the House GOP’s Whip, is capitalizing on this moment.
Emmer discussed with the Washington Reporter his fascination with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, the banking industry, the 2024 elections, and the possibility that his governor (Tim Walz, probable Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’s potential running mate) could be vice president.
Although Emmer doesn’t “actually own Bitcoin,” he said, he sees the industry as the latest evolution in the battle between big-government Keynesians and free market Hayekians.
“Now the Keynesians have become the modern monetary theorists. They believe that if a central government has its own fiat currency that it controls, it can print and spend as much as it wants without any consequences,” Emmer said. Emmer previously detailed the stakes of this election with regards to cryptocurrency in a Reporter op-ed.
Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio), thrilled Emmer, who said that he recently told Vance “‘you’re going to be the first vice presidential candidate or presidential candidate in our country’s history who has owned Bitcoin.’” Emmer is confident that a Trump-Vance administration will both roll back anti-growth policies of Biden and promote the crypto industry; this past weekend, Trump headlined a bitcoin conference before hosting a rally in Minnesota.
Emmer criticized the current Biden-Harris administration for being staffed with left-wing activists, and warned that some of those staffers might enter a potential Harris administration. Emmer pointed to Gary Gensler, the Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who he said “is more than just disingenuous. I think he’s dishonest.” While Gensler’s job is to protect American investors, Emmer cautioned that he is “advancing the Gary Gensler agenda of how you literally stifle innovation and opportunity for Americans.”
Gensler has “been driving this digital assets business off our shores,” while at the SEC, Emmer said. “He’s been bringing lawsuits all over the place — and losing all over the place. That time’s past. Gary Gensler needs to move on. His career in government should be over.” One of the most harmful SEC regulations, according to Emmer, has been Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, which he called a “dishonest rule.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) could also be in line for a promotion to Treasury Secretary if Harris wins in November, in part because Harris doesn’t have too many confidants that Emmer has observed. But “Gary Gensler, you know that he’s going to advocate for it,” he said.
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