After putting forward their dueling amendments to the damaging crypto provision in the infrastructure bill, Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) managed to reach a compromise with yet another rewrite.
The last-minute effort, however, ended up being ultimately futile since Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) have objected to the amendment due to a dispute over military spending.
Two objections on the Senate floor have blocked the addition of a deal on cryptocurrency tax enforcement to a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
First one was by Sanders. Second objection by Shelby, who wants his amendment added for $50 billion more in defense spending.
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) August 9, 2021
Shelby asked for a $50 billion defense amendment to the bill, which didn’t sit well with Sanders.
It was only possible to change the language of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill by unanimous consent since the Senate moved to invoke “cloture” on Monday. This means that the amendment will not make it to the final bill.
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that the legislation could obliterate the industry:
There aren’t 5 senators in this body with any real understanding of how cryptocurrency operates.
What’s next?
While the fight in the Senate is already over, the cryptocurrency lobby will now direct its resources to the House of Representatives, according to CoinCenter’s Jerry Brito:
1/ The bad news is that the amendment did not receive unanimous consent, so it will not make it into the bill.
The good news is we’re not giving up. Next stop is the House where we can try to get a whole new amendment from scratch that can address all our concerns.
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) August 9, 2021
However, the House is not likely to make any changes in the text of the bill that is expected to be passed on Tuesday morning.
