Senator Josh Hawley has done a lot of good for the conservative movement. But his latest move — trying to blow up the GENIUS Act, a top priority of the Trump administration, with a controversial amendment — isn’t one of them.
The GENIUS Act is exactly the kind of America First legislation we need. President Trump hopes to sign the bill before the summer. Vice President JD Vance has pushed it along aggressively, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called out the senators who are obstructing its passage.
The bill is designed to protect America’s global financial leadership by creating a clear legal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins.
Stablecoins are a kind of digital dollar — just like regular dollars but used online. If the bill passes, it will ensure these stablecoins are backed 1:1 with U.S. dollars and other American financial instruments, meaning they could be redeemed for real, physical dollars at any time.
If the GENIUS Act passes, demand for the dollar would increase every time someone uses a U.S. stablecoin around the world. That would help make the dollar stronger compared to other currencies, helping to fund the U.S. government without raising your taxes.
This is how we put America First in the digital age!
Right now, countries like China and Russia are trying to weaken the dollar by pushing their own stablecoins. China’s new law promoting its digital money kicks in August 1. If we don’t act, they could start to replace the dollar in trade and finance around the world.
The GENIUS Act will stop this from happening. It will help American companies compete with China by giving them the U.S.’ official green light to issue safe, fully-backed digital dollars — keeping the U.S. on top and our financial system the strongest in the world.
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Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the sponsor of the GENIUS Act, said that “the bill would bolster demand for U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, as well as the dollar.” He’s right, and every conservative who wants to keep America strong on the world stage should be cheering it on.
Instead, Hawley is trying to tank the bill with a last-minute, unrelated amendment to impose price controls on credit interest rates. The idea is based on an unpopular bill he introduced with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in February.
Why is Hawley doing this? Because he bafflingly doesn’t want the Trump administration’s GENIUS Act to pass.
Hawley’s stated reason for opposing the GENIUS Act is that he’s concerned the bill would help Big Tech issue stablecoins. But let’s be honest: who cares?
Sure, some large tech companies could choose to issue stablecoins under this framework, but so could cryptocurrency companies, fintech startups, traditional financial institutions, and more. This isn’t a pro-Big Tech bill. It’s a pro-U.S. dollar, pro-America’s global financial leadership bill. Hawley’s concern is a complete straw man — a distraction from the real issue at stake, which is whether the U.S. leads in financial innovation or cedes ground to authoritarian regimes.
If Hawley is truly worried about the power of Big Tech, there are plenty of governmental tools — from congressional hearings to antitrust policy at the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission — to address that. But blocking a bill of economic and national security importance out of fear that a Big Tech giant could get into the game? That’s shortsighted, unserious, and unbecoming of someone who claims to champion American First governance.
Does Hawley also believe we should have never created the Internet so that bad actors — whether deep-fakers to tech monopolies — never came to be? Or does he recognize that the Internet has plenty of other benefits that cancel out those negatives?
Hawley is not the only Republican looking to use the GENIUS Act for other purposes. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) is also attempting to add his historically unpopular Credit Card Competition Act, which he sponsors in the Senate with liberal Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), to the bill. The only difference between Hawley and Marshall is that Marshall doesn’t appear to be deliberately trying to deliberately tank the legislation.
The truth is, the GENIUS Act is exactly what President Trump asked for. His administration sees stablecoins tied to the dollar as a way to cement American monetary leadership, push back against China’s digital yuan, and boost demand for U.S. debt.
As VP Vance said last week, the Senate needs to pass this bill clean, free of any unrelated amendments that can weaken the legislation’s chances of speedy passage.
If the bill fails, we lose a critical financial tool and hand our adversaries a victory, plain and simple. As we bicker, Beijing is rolling out its own digital currency across the developing world while other nations are actively working to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar. We need to go on offense and the GENIUS Act is a smart, strategic way to do it.
It’s smart policy, strategic geopolitics, and a clear Trump priority. It’s time to pass the bill.
Horace Cooper is a senior fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, chairman of the Project 21 National Advisory Board and a legal commentator. He is a frequent Fox News contributor and the author of How Trump is Making Black America Great Again: The Untold Story of Black Advancement in the Era of Trump