Below I write about some real accomplishments last week delivered by crypto supporters in DC, but as a cautionary note, this week could see a Presidential veto of legislation approved by the House and Senate two weeks ago that would overturn SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121).
The growing success of the crypto lobbying efforts in DC led to a lead article in the Washington Post about the industry’s emerging clout. Here’s a link to the Post article.
When the House considered H.J. Res. 109 to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn an administrative action the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy stating that the President would veto the bill if passed. It was indeed approved by both the House and Senate by substantial bipartisan majorities and now the President must decide whether to veto the bill. While the resolution was approved by large majorities the votes fell well short of the 2/3rds majority that would be required to override a veto.
However, there is a way that the President could let the bill become law without his signature. While not widely used a bill can become law without the President’s signature after ten business days if the Congress is in session. This is why the Congress seldom takes a formal recess but has proforma sessions so that the President can’t “pocket veto” a bill by not signing it, which is what happens if the President doesn’t sign a bill while the Congress isn’t in session. But if a President wants to send a message that he objects to a bill but doesn’t want a veto fight there is an avenue for a bill to become a law without the President’s signature. Technical but how the process works.
Last week the House passed two bills that were supported by the crypto world. The first House-passed bill would set up a new regulatory scheme for crypto by dividing authority between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The bill passed the House on a large bipartisan vote of 279 YES to 136 NO. Among the 71 Democrats who supported the bill were former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the number two Democrat in the House, Katherine Clark, the Democratic Whip.
The second bill passed by the House would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This bill didn’t get as large a bipartisan vote as the legislation establishing a crypto regulatory structure did. The vote was 216 YES to 192 NO.
Both bills will face tough sledding in the Senate as Banking Chair Sherrod Brown and senior committee member Senator Elizabeth Warren have shown opposition to crypto generally and have expressed reservations with these proposals so they are unlikely to see action this year. However, as I have been writing, the electoral map looks very good for Republicans and the Senate could flip to Republican control after the November elections.
House Republicans get one more Member
The House Republican majority increased by one Member last week when Vince Fong won a special election to fill the seat vacated when ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy resigned his House seat. Fong had worked for McCarthy as his district representative before successfully running for the State Assembly.
Fong will hold the seat for the remainder of McCarthy’s term but will need to run for the full new term in November when he will face the same candidate he defeated last week. Fong had many endorsements including both McCarthy and former President Trump. He got 60% of the vote.
The House now stands at 218 Rs to 213 Ds.
