Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement during a full Committee hearing entitled, “Innovation Revolution: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Finance.”

Good morning. I’d like to welcome our witnesses to the Committee today for this important discussion around the future of finance. But before I begin, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized for a point of personal privilege.

The purpose of my point of personal privilege is to acknowledge Chairman McHenry. Today marks his final hearing as Chair of this Committee, and as a Member of Congress. Leading this Committee is no small feat. It demands a leader who values the importance of debate, who is thoughtful in seeking common ground, and who is fair and respectful. This Congress, Chair McHenry has embodied those qualities with consistency. His leadership has helped to keep this Committee largely insulated from the chaos and drama that often characterizes Congress.

Now, while the Chair and I may not see eye-to-eye on every policy, it has been a pleasure to work with the Chair on a range of issues. We worked together to pass the first of its kind national emergency rental assistance program, which kept millions of people housed across this country during the pandemic. We also worked together to provide a historic investment in Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions to ensure a fair and equitable recovery from the pandemic. And let’s not forget how our work helped support thousands of small businesses by reauthorizing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and the Export-Import Bank.

We also joined together to support people wanting to start their own businesses, or to take their businesses to the next level, by creating the first-of-its-kind federal crowdfunding platforms and easing small business access to angel investors. Chair McHenry has long championed new and innovative ideas that can spur growth in our economy and provide opportunity. And over the past two Congresses, we worked relentlessly over several years to craft legislation around stablecoins, I have long appreciated Mr. McHenry’s commitment to good-faith negotiation and I'm hopeful he will pull another rabbit out of the hat to pass this deal into law before the year ends.

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of Committee Democrats, I want to thank you for your 20 years of dedicated service and leadership. I wish you the best as you embark on this next phase of your life and your career. And I hope that wherever you go, in whatever rooms you may find yourself, you’ll remember what you accomplished here. I most certainly will. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at a bowtie again, except on my husband, without thinking about you. Thank you again for your service. I yield back.

Thank you very much.

Now, today we will discuss a vision for the future of finance. I want to begin by thanking you again and hoping that we can open up this session in a way that will help us deal with innovation, revolution, and how technology is shaping the future of finance.

And so, with that I’d like to again make sure that our witnesses are feeling that they can share with us today all of what we need in order to move forward on this new venture that we are embarking on.

With that I won’t take a lot of time. I’ll just yield back the balance of my time.

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