Congress
Capitol agenda: A crypto titan flexes in the Senate
Tim Scott is facing a crypto calamity.
Landmark digital asset legislation that the Senate Banking chair hoped to advance out of committee Thursday is in extreme jeopardy after one of the industry’s most influential executives announced his opposition Wednesday, setting off a scramble in the Senate and the White House to rescue the bill.
Scott has now postponed the markup, and it’s unclear where he goes from here.
The last-minute backlash is crypto’s biggest flex yet on Capitol Hill, after the industry’s largest players doled out more than $100 million on races across the country to ensure their allies controlled the 119th Congress.
Scott is facing opposition from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, founder of the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange. Coinbase has one of the most aggressive lobbying and legal operations in the realm of crypto policy, and it has pumped tens of millions of dollars into a pro-crypto super PAC network.
The bill at issue is on its face the kind of thing crypto companies have been working toward for years — a sweeping rewrite of Wall Street regulations to accommodate the trading of crypto tokens. It’s also a top financial policy priority for the Trump administration.
But the legislation isn’t accommodating enough for Coinbase, which had been generally supportive of Scott’s approach until he revealed a new version of the bill this week.
“Evidently, the industry writes the bill and if anybody in Congress has the nerve to slightly amend it, the industry says that the whole thing is off and they have canceled the law,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on Senate Banking and an opponent of the bill, told Blue Light News. “These are folks who think that when they’ve bought themselves a Congress, then they expect it to behave the way they say.”
Armstrong is balking at what he calls the bill’s “erosion” of authority at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — a regulator the industry has long preferred over the Securities and Exchange Commission. He’s also concerned about the potential for amendments that would crack down on “rewards” from stablecoins — a flashpoint between crypto firms and traditional banks, which see them as threats to old-school savings accounts.
“We’d rather have no bill than a bad bill,” Armstrong wrote on X — a statement that was also at odds with other big players in the crypto world, who say the bill is flawed but still worth advancing.
Before Armstrong’s surprise rebellion, Scott told Blue Light News that he was fully committed to holding the markup, despite looming opposition from key crypto-friendly Democrats and further complications from Republican allies of the banking industry.
“I am hopeful that it will be a bipartisan victory,” Scott said Wednesday around noon. “But at the end of the day, it’s time for us to come and say where we are on the underlying issues.”
But for some Republicans, the outcome was obvious after Armstrong’s power play.
“I think there’s a deal to be had,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said. “But [Armstrong’s] probably made the right assessment in terms of us being ready for the markup.”
What else we’re watching:
— Approps progress: Senators expect to pass the three-bill appropriations minibus Thursday, and some are confident that another funding package could be released this weekend covering Defense, Transportation-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Blue Light News that senators are keeping their options open for how to process the six remaining funding bills once they return from next week’s recess.
— What’s next on war powers: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says Democrats plan to force votes on military action in Greenland, Iran, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Cuba, after Republicans derailed the Venezuela war powers measure Wednesday. “You make them have to work their ass off to keep their people in the corral,” Kaine told reporters.
Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Calen Razor contributed to this report.
Congress
Eleanor Holmes Norton confirms her retirement as DC delegate
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting House delegate for 35 years, confirmed Tuesday she is retiring from office — more than 48 hours after a public filing terminating her reelection campaign.
“With pride in our accomplishments, gratitude to DC, and confidence in the next generation, I announced I’ll retire at the end of this term,” she said in a statement.
Norton, who is 88 and has faced serious questions about her fitness for office, said she would complete her 18th term.
“Although I’ve decided not to seek reelection, I will never falter in my commitment to the residents I have long championed,” she said, touting her success in securing the transfer of federal lands to local government control and the establishment of a federally funded college tuition assistance program for D.C. residents.
Norton stayed silent for days after her campaign filed termination paperwork Sunday morning — even as local politicians and dignitaries paid public tribute to Norton and her service to the city.
Norton has made limited public appearances in the past year, even as President Donald Trump targeted the city for a police takeover and immigration enforcement surge. She insisted for months she would run for reelection but raised barely any campaign cash as pressure to retire mounted and challengers began to line up against her.
Among the Democrats already vying to succeed her are D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto and Robert White, political strategist Kinney Zalesne and former Norton aide Trent Holbrook. The June 16 primary is all but certain to decide the next delegate in a city that hasn’t given a Republican presidential nominee more than 10 percent of the vote since 1988.
Congress
Florida Republican Vern Buchanan won’t seek reelection
Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan announced Tuesday that he will be retiring from Congress after 20 years in office, the latest Republican to forgo seeking reelection amid a challenging midterm environment for the party.
Buchanan, who represents the red 16th District that includes some of Tampa’s suburbs along the Gulf Coast, is a longtime member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Serving the people of Southwest Florida has been the honor of my lifetime,” Buchanan said in a statement. “After 20 years of service, I believe it’s the right time to pass the torch and begin a new chapter in my life.”
First elected in 2006, Buchanan became a key player on tax, trade and health care policy.
Congress
Capitol agenda: No shutdown deal in sight
Senators are scrambling to avoid a partial government shutdown later this week after Saturday’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent has members of both parties debating what guardrails they can place on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.
There’s no deal in sight.
The Homeland Security appropriations measure is a part of a multi-bill funding package the House sent over to the Senate last Thursday before leaving town for recess, and which the Senate now must clear before 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31 — or spark funding lapses across multiple agencies. Making changes to any portion of that package at this point would jeopardize its chances for being signed into law in time.
But recent developments in Minnesota have Democrats calling for changes to the DHS measure. Among their list of demands are requiring judicial warrants for immigration arrests, mandating federal agents identify themselves, requiring DHS to cooperate with state and local investigations and limiting the “mission creep of federal agencies.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wants the DHS bill stripped out of the larger funding package entirely and renegotiated.
Republicans are reluctant to engage, taking the first step Monday to set up an initial vote on the package Thursday. Instead, GOP senators are dangling alternatives that would let them avoid having to tweak the package at the eleventh hour, floating new potential executive actions or a commitment to passing a separate piece of legislation that would address shared priorities.
Democrats aren’t biting. Many believe they have leverage as Americans recoil at the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics in Minnesota and elsewhere. Plenty of Democrats are also skeptical the administration can be trusted to bring accountability to DHS operations or that standalone legislation reining in the department would ever make it through the House.
“My options are to do nothing or to recognize that two U.S. citizens were recently … executed by federal agents,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told reporters Monday. “We need to at least bring some level of pressure on DHS or on our Republican colleagues to explain to the American public why we are going to continue funding this without any changes.”
Democrats are also increasingly calling for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment amid the fallout. Noem will testify March 3 for an oversight hearing before Senate Judiciary, according to an aide for Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), where questions about her leadership are sure to arise.
Senate Republicans could still have the upper hand. A group of conservatives, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), is vowing to oppose any effort to strip out DHS funding. And due to the time crunch ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline, a single senator can block an attempt to quickly amend the legislation.
Privately, many Republicans believe any off-ramp will need to come from the White House, anyway, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose private thinking — and the administration said Monday it wants to see the funding package passed as written.
Over in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership circle is still weighing its options but there are no plans to bring the chamber back early from recess, according to three people granted anonymity to comment on private planning.
Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
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