Who?
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) — House Financial Services Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Torres
Ask a Pol asks:
What do you think about the new House effort to combine market structure and stablecoin measures into one behmoath bill?
Key Torres:
“I’d prefer to do one at a time,” Rep. Ritchie Torres exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “Both bills are complicated but market structure even more. Allowing a simpler piece of legislation to be held hostage by a more complicated piece of legislation strikes me as unwise.”
Caught our ear:
“I think combining the two bills would make it more complicated, not less,” Torres tells us.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), slightly edited for clarity.
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TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Ritchie Torres (6-26-2025)
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches Rep. Ritchie Torres and a couple other members of Congress chatting while making their way to the Capitol via an underground tunnel, so Laslo paces in back of them at a distance before finding a natural opening to interrupt… .
Matt Laslo: “Mr. Torres — how are you?”
Ritchie Torres: “How are you doing Matt?”
ML: “Living the dream. Pre (July 4th) recess crypto combo — what do you think about this new proposal to combine market structure and stablecoin?”
RT: “I’d prefer to do one at a time.”
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ML: “Yeah?”
RT: “Because market structure — both bills are complicated but market structure even more. Allowing a simpler piece of legislation to be held hostage by a more complicated piece of legislation strikes me as unwise, but that's my personal opinion.”
ML: “Is that — I mean, I hang out on the Senate side more than you — but I think because it was so difficult getting that thing over the finish line…”
RT: “Stablecoin?”
ML: “Yeah — that they're kind of free. Yeah, they're kind of reassessing.”
RT: “I think combining the two bills would make it more complicated, not less.”
ML: “Oh, interesting. Yeah.”
RT: “Like if we're not even — if we have not, if the Senate and the House cannot come to an agreement on stablecoin, why would you then combine it with an infinitely more complicated piece of legislation? That seems odd to me.”
Laslo laughs.
ML: “That seems like some interesting logic in this town.”
RT: “Which is which is rare.”
ML: “Yeah. Were you — do you think the stablecoin was a…good sign that this Congress can get over some of these different disagreements?”
RT: “The greatest stumbling block to a bipartisan compromise is Donald Trump.”
ML: “Fair.”
RT: “His crypto corruption and presidential profiteering is poisoning the atmosphere.”
ML: “Yeah?”
RT: “The process was moving smoothly until he decided to monetize the presidency.”
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