Senate Democrats rallied to block a motion to proceed on bipartisan crypto legislation Thursday afternoon using the filibuster, a procedural rule they have heavily campaigned and voted to eliminate.
Senators voted 48 to 49 on a procedural vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, falling well short of the necessary 60 votes to advance to final passage. The landmark cryptocurrency legislation would have imposed a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of crypto which is pegged to the value of an asset, such as the dollar.
Senate Democrats’ decision to block the stablecoin legislation was the fourth time Democrats have used the 60-vote filibuster since Republicans took control of the upper chamber in January.
Former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama referred to the longstanding Senate procedural rule as a “relic of the Jim Crow Era.” Senate Democrats attempted to scrap the filibuster in January 2022, during Biden’s presidency.
All Senate Democrats shot down the stablecoin bill despite five Senate Democrats having voted to advance the legislation out of committee and the bill garnering bipartisan support. Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined Senate Democrats in opposing the procedural vote on the bill with Hawley citing concerns about Big Tech’s involvement in the crypto industry.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune changed his vote from yes to no and filed a motion to reconsider, which will allow him to call the bill up on the floor again.
Thune excoriated Senate Democrats for blocking the motion to proceed, accusing his Democratic colleagues of failing to negotiate in good faith to get the first-of-its-kind crypto bill across the finish line.
“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 said. “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.”
“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,” Thune continued. “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.”
Senate Banking Committee chairman Tim Scott accused Democrats of voting down the legislation to prevent giving President Donald Trump a significant legislative win.
“It was a vote against President Trump and President Trump’s legislative agenda,” Scott said on the Senate floor. “It was a vote to stop President Trump from having a victory in the digital assets space. It was a vote against common sense.”
“Trump Derangement Syndrome has once again hijacked responsible governance in this chamber,” Scott added. “But unfortunately, it’s the American people — they are the ones who lose.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, issued a statement criticizing Democrats for opposing the stablecoin legislation, a sign of the crypto industry’s growing clout in Washington.
“Republican leadership is the only path to real crypto wins in Congress,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper said in a statement.
Senate Democrats justified their opposition to advancing the bill by claiming they had not seen the new bill text and were left in the dark about some of the bill details.
“How can you vote for a bill when you haven’t seen the text,” Schumer told reporters Thursday. “Plain and simple there is no text available.”
“All I asked was to move this to Monday, it would have kept the same timetable,” Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego told reporters, claiming Republicans had not given them enough time to get to a “yes” on the GENIUS Act. “Instead they want to force the vote because they want to politicize crypto.”
Lummis told reporters she was deeply frustrated with Senate Democrats for tanking the bill despite Republicans offering Democrats “the moon and then some” to obtain their support.
“They’re [Democrats are] in a bad mood,” Lummis said Thursday afternoon. “They’re throwing the monkey wrenches and everything.
“I don’t know what their problem is,” Lummis continued. “They’re in a surly mood.”
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