Andy Barr's 'Vision' for House Financial Services

The Kentucky lawmaker is running to succeed crypto-advocate Patrick McHenry as chair of the powerful U.S. House Financial Services Committee.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) is one of several lawmakers vying to succeed Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) as the head of the Republican wing of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. Barr spoke briefly at the Flyover Fintech conference hosted by Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Monday.

Barr is hoping to secure leadership of his party's wing in the Financial Services Committee next year after McHenry retires from Congress. He spoke to roughly 300 audience members during the lunch break at Flyover Fintech, laying out his view for restoring the American Dream.

"I'm just doing the best I can to cast a vision, educate my colleagues about what that vision is, but also listen to my colleagues about what they want in leadership in the House Financial Services Committee," Barr said in an interview with CoinDesk after his public remarks.

The House GOP will vote on its leadership shortly after next month's election, including the whip and leader. The lawmakers would then appoint a steering committee, and only after that would committee chairs (or ranking members, if Democrats retake the House) be chosen.

If he is chosen to lead, Barr said the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) would be on his agenda, when asked what crypto-specific initiatives he may focus on.

"If we are unable to get FIT21 across the finish line through the year-end vehicles, which are the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] and the omnibus [spending bill], then we need to be persistent and we need to redouble our efforts and reintroduce in the next Congress," he said.

In the event the bill does fall to the next Congress, Barr said it would be an opportunity to revise it, though he said he didn't "have many suggested changes."

"I think they've done a marvelous job," he said, referring to Reps. McHenry, French Hill (R-Ark.) and Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.).

"And if the reason why it fails in the lame duck is that we didn't do a good enough job getting enough Democrats on board, then it gives us an opportunity to maybe see what we can do to get the job done," he said. "We shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, right?"

Barr also said it was "disappointing" that Congress wasn't able to override President Joe Biden's veto of an effort to overturn Securities and Exchange Commission Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, a controversial custody rule that crypto advocates argue blocks most financial institutions from providing custody services to the sector.

"We need to create a pathway for regulated financial institutions, banks [and] non-banks, to safely custody digital assets," he said.

I also spoke with Rep. Flood after the day's events wrapped, more specifically about legislation. The lawmaker noted that Rep. McHenry "is well-regarded," and people were still working to find a way and have FIT21 passed into law during the forthcoming lame duck session (the time between Election Day in two weeks and when new members of Congress take their seat in January.)

"I still remain hopeful we can at least get FIT done," he said. Stablecoin legislation will wait until next year, and if FIT21 doesn't pass in 2024, it will also pass in 2025, Flood emphasized.

"We have serious people working in financial innovation that can create a lot of jobs, generate wealth, cement America even more as the world's financial juggernaut," he said. "But there are pitfalls, and there are things to watch out for, and regulators and lawmakers need to make sure we're building a foundation, but not an overly prescriptive set of rules. So I think it's hard to sit here and not get excited about some of the innovation that's happening, but at the same time, how are we going to regulate it? How are we going to ensure that the innovation survives our regulations?"