The House late Wednesday advanced a trio of cryptocurrency bills and a 2026 Defense spending measure after a group of GOP hard-liners dropped their opposition to the effort following a chaotic day of turnabouts and negotiations with Republican leaders.

The House voted 217-212 to advance the bills following a closed-door standoff between House conservatives and the leaders of the Financial Services and Agriculture committees, which crafted the legislation. The vote was held open more than nine hours for the negotiations.

GOP hard-liners, who tanked a procedural vote on the bills Tuesday afternoon, were pushing to merge a sweeping crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act with separate, partisan legislation to ban a central bank digital currency. The GOP chairs of the Financial Services and Agriculture panels, Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.) and G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), opposed that plan, fearing it would kill off Democratic support for the market structure bill.

The Republican rebels dropped their opposition after GOP leaders said they would attach a measure banning a CBDC — a government-issued digital dollar that conservatives say would open the door to privacy invasions — to a must-pass defense authorization bill. The deal came following a late-night meeting in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.

Trump called in at the very end and was briefed on the agreement, according to two people in the room granted anonymity to describe a private discussion. “He’s happy with it,” one of the people said.

“This breaks the logjam, allows us to get our work done,” Johnson afterward. The Louisiana Republican spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune Wednesday about adding the CBDC ban to the NDAA, according to two other people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

The procedural vote tees the House up to adopt the crypto bills in the coming days. Johnson said he expects to vote on a Senate-approved measure that would create new rules for so-called stablecoins on Thursday. A vote on the CLARITY bill could be pushed to next week.

The stablecoin legislation, known as the GENIUS Act, would go to President Donald Trump’s desk and become the first major crypto bill ever passed by Congress, delivering a major lobbying victory to crypto firms.

The procedural vote also will allow the House to move swiftly on an amended package of spending clawbacks requested by Trump. As House Republicans struggled over crypto issues Wednesday, senators were grinding through votes in hopes of approving the rescissions package ahead of a Friday deadline.

White House officials have discussed potential candidates who could replace Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) if she elects not to run again in 2026, according to a person familiar with the conversation granted anonymity to speak about political strategy.

Though there is no discussion of pushing a primary on the 72-year old, President Donald Trump would love to see a “better option,” in place of one of his most persistent GOP critics, the person said.

Though she hasn’t formally launched a campaign, the Senate Appropriations chair confirmed Tuesday she is planning to run again and was “pleased” with strong fundraising she reported last week.

Collins’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The person declined to say who Trump might like to see run if Collins retires when her fifth term ends.

Collins – chair of the historically powerful Appropriations Committee — is one of a handful of lawmakers Democrats hope to knock out to retake the majority. Flipping Maine, which former Vice President Kamala Harris carried in 2024, would be much easier for Democrats if Collins decided not to run.

Collins, a moderate Republican, has faced an uphill battle in the Senate this month, with GOP leaders pushing through Trump’s megabill while snubbing some of her safety-net cutback concerns. In addition this week, Republicans are pushing through a Trump claw back effort of $9 billion in spending Collins helped approve.

Sen. Tina Smith has been admitted to the hospital after becoming ill Wednesday and won’t be available to help Democrats during crucial votes on the rescission package.

Smith was admitted to the hospital after feeling ill and will stay overnight for observation, her office said.

“While at work at the Capitol today, Sen. Smith started to not feel well. She went to the Capitol physician who recommended she undergo more thorough examination at GW hospital,” the statement read. “Out of an abundance of caution, they are keeping her overnight for observation. She expects to be back at work very soon.”

The Minnesota Democrat will be unable to help Democrats as they seek to make changes to the $9 billion package of funding clawbacks in a “vote-a-rama” amendment series.

Democrats have failed in their efforts thus far to block pieces of the proposed $1.1 billion in cuts to public media and $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid. Some Republicans have backed proposed amendments from Democrats, but not enough to overcome the Republican majority thus far.

Smith’s absence means that, barring any other absences, Republicans will not need to rely on Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote on any amendments this evening. Vance traveled to Pennsylvania earlier on Wednesday and is scheduled to return to Washington this evening.