A bipartisan effort to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins hit a wall in the Senate on Thursday afternoon, as Senate Democrats rallied to block a motion to proceed on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. The procedural vote failed 48-49, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the landmark cryptocurrency legislation.
Senate Democrats’ move to utilize the filibuster, a procedural tactic requiring 60 votes to end debate and advance a bill, drew immediate and sharp criticism from Republicans. This is the fourth time Democrats have employed the 60-vote threshold since the GOP took control of the upper chamber in January, a point of contention given the party’s previous strong opposition to the rule.
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Notably, former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama have both decried the filibuster as a vestige of the Jim Crow era, and Senate Democrats made a push to eliminate it in January 2022. The irony of their current reliance on the very rule they sought to abolish was not lost on Republicans.
Despite the bipartisan support the GENIUS Act garnered in committee, with five Senate Democrats even voting to advance it, the entire Democratic caucus voted against the procedural motion. They were joined by Republican Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky, with Hawley citing concerns about the potential involvement of Big Tech in the cryptocurrency space.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune changed his vote to no at the last moment for procedural reasons, allowing him to file a motion to reconsider the bill at a later date. He lambasted his Democratic colleagues for what he characterized as a failure to negotiate in good faith on a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation.
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“If Democrats were interested in further changes, as they claim, they would have had the chance to make those changes on the floor — all they had to do was vote for cloture,” Thune asserted on the Senate floor. “Not every bill that comes to the floor is a final bill. Now, that may be how it worked when they were in control. But Republicans are doing it differently.”
Thune further questioned the Democrats’ motives, stating, “I don’t know why you vote against proceeding to a bill on the floor after you voted to refer that same bill to the floor – as a number of Democrats, as I just said, did, coming out of the Banking Committee. Which of course makes you wonder if this is about the bill at all – or if it’s simply Democrats obstructing because they want to deny Republicans, or President Trump, a bipartisan win.”
Echoing this sentiment, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott accused Democrats of deliberately blocking the legislation to prevent a significant legislative victory for President Donald Trump.
“It was a vote against President Trump and President Trump’s legislative agenda,” Scott declared. “It was a vote to stop President Trump from having a victory in the digital assets space. It was a vote against common sense.”
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“Trump Derangement Syndrome has once again hijacked responsible governance in this chamber,” Scott added, lamenting the potential negative impact on the American people.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) also weighed in, issuing a statement emphasizing the growing influence of the cryptocurrency industry in Washington and criticizing Democrats’ opposition. “Republican leadership is the only path to real crypto wins in Congress,” stated NRSC Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper.
In their defense, Senate Democrats claimed they had not been given adequate time to review the final text of the bill and were unclear on certain details. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, “How can you vote for a bill when you haven’t seen the text? Plain and simple there is no text available.”
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Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona echoed this concern, stating, “All I asked was to move this to Monday, it would have kept the same timetable. Instead they want to force the vote because they want to politicize crypto.”
However, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, a key architect of the bipartisan legislation, expressed deep frustration with the Democrats’ actions, suggesting that Republicans had made significant concessions to secure their support. “They’re [Democrats are] in a bad mood,” Lummis said. “They’re throwing the monkey wrenches and everything. I don’t know what their problem is. They’re in a surly mood.”
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