The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee cleared stablecoin legislation for the next step in its route through Congress on Thursday, though the bill moved forward without bipartisan support. Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) blamed White House objections for the stalemate, while Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat, said it was McHenry who shut down the talks early.
Today I had hoped to announce an agreement with the ranking member on stablecoins legislation, McHenry said. This will not be the case… It was the White House’s unwillingness to compromise that has once again brought that negotiation to a halt.
The news comes a day after the finance-focused lawmakers advanced three bills on crypto issues to a vote in the full House of Representatives, the first time they advanced laws fully dedicated to the topic. McHenry said he was disappointed with the outcome on the stablecoins work after negotiations spanning 15 months, but he didn’t explain the details of the latest disagreement with the executive branch.
Any U.S. stablecoin bill would also have to win support in the Democrat-led Senate, so a bill coming solely from House Republicans rather than a bipartisan effort may be less likely to influence that other chamber. Democrats were concerned about the reserve provisions in the bill, as well as the parties’ different views on the role federal regulators should have over stablecoin issuers.
I urge Republicans to pull this extremist piece of legislation from the markup, Waters said. Why the rush? Why can’t we continue this negotiation?
The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act was introduced by McHenry last week, and it seeks to finally offer a regulatory framework for crypto tied to the value of fiat currency. During the debate, Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) suggested voting be postponed to September, saying Democrats hadn’t had sufficient chance to pitch their ideas.
As in the committee’s approval of the wider market-structure legislation this week, several Democrats sided with the entire Republican membership of the panel to approve the stablecoin bill. The committee also addressed several other bills on Thursday, including one from Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) that’s meant to protect people’s ability to keep self-custodied wallets for crypto assets.