U.S. House’s McHenry Says Senate May Be Swayed if Many Democrats Back Crypto Bill

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R.N.C.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a leading figure, said the outcome of next week’s vote on U.S. legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency industry will strongly influence the likelihood of the U.S. Senate joining. He advocated for crypto legislation in the final months of his career in Congress.

What needs to be considered, he suggested, is whether a large number of Democrats show up to support the bill.

McHenry, who will retire at the end of the year, has made digital assets legislation a top priority during his time on Capitol Hill. To that end, the House has noted a number of recent cryptocurrency successes, from passing several related bills through McHenry’s committee to advancing a congressional effort to reverse the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crypto accounting policies.

But most significant among the House’s digital asset efforts is the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, or FIT21, which is moving toward a long-awaited final approval vote in the House in the coming days. This is the most comprehensive US crypto bill to advance through Congress, and if approved by a bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, it would represent a high point for the industry’s efforts in Washington.

“We will be introducing this bill to the House for a vote next week,” McHenry said at the DC Blockchain Summit on Wednesday. “The outcome of this vote will determine what kind of attention it gets in the Senate and whether we can get something done.”

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But the bill is not expected to find a ready match in the Senate so far, meaning it won’t immediately move toward becoming law. But McHenry suggested “who knows what will happen” during the so-called lame duck session of Congress between the November election and the end of the session, where legislation has a way to fast-track unrelated bills.

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), who chairs a crypto subcommittee and is among the candidates who could replace McHenry as speaker, said at the same event on Wednesday that he was optimistic about the outcome of the House’s FIT21 vote. One big reason: 21 Democrats chose to vote to overturn the SEC’s controversial crypto accounting provision (Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, or SAB 121) despite President Joe Biden’s threat to veto the effort.

“I am optimistic and expect strong support from Democrats,” Hill said of FIT21. “This is about the future.”

Hill said it also responds to President Biden’s executive order earlier in his term calling for legislation in this area.

McHenry acknowledged that having so many Democrats opposing the White House and the SEC on accounting rules is “a big deal.” At least one Senate Democrat — Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — said she would support the resolution to cancel the bulletin when it comes to a vote Thursday.