House Leaves For Campaign Trail Today; Senate Banking Aims For Nominations Vote Next Week

House leaves early

The House of Representatives are leaving early for summer break. According to Roll Call, Members are ready to campaign after a “tumultuous two weeks” which has an included the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the VP Kamala Harris‘ ascension to Democratic Presidential nominee and President Joe Biden bowing out of another term.

Divisive debates within the Republican caucus over appropriations bills may have also contributed to the early exit says Roll Call.

Legislation lovers should be advised that “The outlook is similarly grim come September, the focus will shift to passing a stopgap funding measure to avoid a partial government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. “

The House returns on Monday, September 9. See calendar.

House leaves early – no DeFi

The House Financial Services Committee announced yesterday that they’re postponing the hearing on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) which was scheduled for next Tuesday, July 30, is now “postponed.”

No new date has been announced.

what you should know: House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R, NC) and Vice Chair French Hill (R, AR) can’t be happy. Republicans have been continuing to take the high ground with hearings on and appearances about digital assets,  no doubt seeing opportunity for their caucus.

noms update

No House?  There’s always the Senate where all that may remain is “noms” before the August break.

The nominations of FDIC nominee Christy  Goldsmith Romero and SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw in addition to others may be coming for a vote next Wednesday, July 31, if Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D, OH) has his way.

Politico’s Eleanor Mueller delivers the details on some complexity: “If convicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D, NJ) does not appear, Senate Banking Democrats lose their one-seat majority. That means Brown will need at least some GOP support to advance Goldsmith Romero and President Joe Biden’s choices of Caroline Crenshaw to stay on at the SEC and Kristin Johnson and Gordon Ito to join Treasury and FSOC.” Read more in Politico (subscription).

what you should know: Without certainty on victory, Chair Brown won’t move forward. A vote may have to wait until September’s sessions.

new co-sponsor

Rep. Mike Flood’s (R, NE) “Uniform Treatment of Custodial Assets Act” [H.R.5741] has added a new Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Eric Sorensen (IL).

As Rep. Flood discussed with blockchain tipsheet on Tuesday, H.R.5741 is another legislative vehicle for rescinding the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121).

Rep. Sorensen was a “no” on overriding President Biden’s veto of the resolution rescinding SAB 121 earlier this month.  And, he voted against the SAB 121 resolution in the original vote in May.

what you should know: Another Democrat has officially changed their mind on SAB 121. Crypto is becoming a (more) critical election issue? Or are crypto campaign dollars calling? The Rockford Register Star reported Tuesday that the race for Sorensen’s seat is “close” in rural Illinois and added, “Rep. Eric Sorensen’s campaign has a significant cash advantage over challenger Joseph McGraw, the Rockford Republican and former Winnebago County judge.” Read more.

Senate market structure bills

Digital Chamber policy executive Cody Carbone joins Tony Edward’s Thinking Crypto podcast and expresses optimism about digital asset market structure bills percolating in the Senate from Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) and Senator J.D. Vance (R, OH), the new Republican nominee for VP.

In the podcast, which was published Wednesday, Carbone says that Chair Stabenow “would like to markup that proposal next week. But, that will only touch the CFTC portion – digital commodities. So, that is the Digital Commodities Act.”

Carbone continues, “What she is doing now is working with [Senator Cynthia Lummis (R, WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY)] who have their bill – the “Responsible Financial Innovation Act” – and seeing if they can bring parts of their bill, which touch on the securities side of things, and make one bill. Their goal is to mark that up next week.” Hear the podcast.

what you should know: It still seems hard to imagine Chair Stabenow’s “DCCPA 2.0” market structure bill ever being “fully baked” in the 118th Congress. There’s not enough days in session and Members are distracted by campaigning, let alone other issues on their Congressional agendas.

Bitcoin as US reserve asset

Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino and Eleanor Terrett report that Senator Cynthia Lummis will announce new crypto legislation at this weekend’s Bitcoin 2024 conference which starts today in Nashville, Tennessee.

Gasparino tweeted yesterday, “[Senator Lummis]
is hoping to announce new legislation at the [Bitcoin 2024] conference
that would establish a pathway for the [Federal Reserve]
to hold [Bitcoin] as a strategic reserve asset and is hoping to get buy-in from
[former President DonaldTrump], who is also speaking at the event.” See the tweet.

more tips:

    • Wyoming Sen. Lummis plans to announce legislation for Strategic Bitcoin Reserve at Nashville conference – Fox Business

Bitcoin conf organizer: no VP

Bitcoin 2024 conference organizer David Bailey says that VP Kamala Harris will not be coming to the stage of his conference after Bailey intimated earlier in the week that it might happen.

Bailey did not hold back his disdain for the VP when updating his X followers about Harris status at [Bitcoin 2024] yesterday: “No surprise. What can she say to us when she’s actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry overseas, attacking PoW… it would have been a disaster for her. All eyes on Trump now.” And, he didn’t stop there.

still more tips

He Was an Online Drug Lord. Now He’s a Crypto Entrepreneur – The New York Times

Opinion: What Does Kamala Harris’ (Presumptive) Nomination Mean for Crypto This Election? – Nikhilesh De, CoinDesk

Pro-Crypto Trump Drives Split Between Bitcoin, Global Equities – Bloomberg