American Federation of Teachers Urges Senate to Scrap Responsible Financial Innovation Act
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has called on the Senate to abandon the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, citing concerns that the bill would weaken investor protections and threaten retirement security. The bill aims to delineate which digital assets fall under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) versus the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while establishing a federal framework imposing uniform standards on exchanges, brokers, custodians, and token issuers.
AFT President Randi Weingarten expressed worries in a letter to Senate leaders, emphasizing that the bill would erode important safeguards for traditional securities and allow trading of tokenized stocks without the standard registration or reporting requirements under federal rules. The legislation could create a legal pathway for trading tokenized versions of traditional financial instruments under a revised federal framework.
At the Blockchain Association policy summit in Washington, divisions emerged among crypto groups regarding the treatment of decentralized finance (DeFi), government access to peer-to-peer transaction data, and other concessions in the bill. Some groups withdrew their support amidst these disagreements.
Senator Cory Booker cautioned that the bill’s prospects had diminished, partly due to concerns over the potential absence of minority commissioners at the SEC and the CFTC, as well as broader issues related to presidential authority to dismiss regulatory officials. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a case that may allow President Trump to fire SEC and CFTC commissioners, with the Court set to hear Rebecca Slaughter’s lawsuit next week.
