Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a Subcommittee hearing on Capital Markets entitled, “Oversight of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets.”

Thank you. Last Congress, Republicans threatened that the SEC Chair Gensler would testify very frequently, but they seem reluctant, if not afraid to hear what he thinks about their crypto markets bill, and I can understand why. Chair Gensler not only has expertise in securities markets, but he also served as the Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and taught courses on crypto at MIT.

Instead, Republicans will discuss legislation to give Wall Street avenues to sue the SEC over any future rulemaking, under the guise of “cost-benefit analysis.” We know that for Wall Street, there’s no benefit that justifies their costs, and apparently, for Republicans, there’s no benefit from hearing from the person who knows the costs of their crypto bill.

I yield back.

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