Congress
Thune open to changing Senate crypto bill to win over Dems
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he is open to amending landmark cryptocurrency legislation that GOP leaders hope to pass in the coming weeks on the floor, as Republicans scramble to negotiate changes that would win over enough Democrats to advance the bill.
“Changes can be made on the floor for sure,” Thune told reporters Monday. He added that he is “waiting to see what it is [Democrats] are asking for.”
His comments come as key Democrats are negotiating to get changes to the crypto legislation, which would create the first-ever U.S. regulatory framework for digital tokens known as stablecoins that are pegged to the value of the dollar.
“Democrats and Republicans are talking to each other right now,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who privately urged members last week not to commit to supporting the stablecoin legislation in order to extract additional concessions from Republicans.
Concerns from Democrats may not be the only vote-counting hurdle Republicans face in the coming days. Sen. Rand Paul said in an interview Monday he is undecided on the legislation, which could add a new headache for Republican leaders who need 60 votes to pass the bill.
“Businesses come to Washington and they say, ‘Please regulate us.’ And usually I say, ‘Well, you’ll be sorry,’” Paul said.
The Kentucky Republican added that he is “all for stablecoin,” which he said could someday compete with the payment giants Mastercard and Visa, but added: “If you place all kinds of limits on it — I don’t know enough to know whether this might harm them in their competitive ability to actually overtake Mastercard and Visa.”
Paul added that he wonders “if this is some kind of thing to build up purchase of Treasuries,” which stablecoin issuers would be allowed to hold as reserves backing their dollar-pegged tokens.
The stablecoin bill hit a surprise roadblock over the weekend when a group of nine Senate Democrats who were previously open to backing the legislation said they wouldn’t support revisions that Republicans unveiled last week.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who voted for a previous version of the stablecoin bill when it cleared the Senate Banking Committee in March, said negotiations are ongoing and he hopes to come to a deal with Republicans ahead of a procedural vote that GOP leaders are eyeing to hold on Thursday.
“I’m hoping we could get it done by then,” he told reporters. “If we can’t then, yeah, then push back. But there’s no reason why we can’t.”
His comments are a sign that pro-crypto Democrats remain open to supporting the stablecoin legislation on the floor, despite concerns from other members of the caucus about advancing the measure as the Trump family pursues digital assets business ventures. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who also voted for a previous version of the bill in the Senate Banking Committee, said there are “real-time meetings going on right now.”
“I think we need a regulated stablecoin regime, but we’ve got legitimate national security issues,” he said.
Congress
Johnson says he has the votes to pass the GOP megabill
Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Thursday morning he had the votes to pass Republicans’ domestic policy megabill and would lose only “one or two” GOP lawmakers ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
“We’ll get this. We’ll land this plane before July 4,” he told reporters.
GOP leaders are barreling toward a final passage vote on the megabill as soon as this afternoon after pulling an all-nighter to advance the bill over the initial opposition of conservative holdouts upset at changes the Senate made to the package. Still, Johnson told reporters that while GOP lawmakers needed “time to digest” the Senate’s changes, many of their concerns were allayed with the help of President Donald Trump and his administration.
“The president helped answer questions. We had Cabinet secretaries involved, and experts in all the fields, and I think they got there,” he said.
He brushed aside concerns about Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a purple-district lawmaker who was the sole lawmaker to oppose the procedural vote, saying he “tried to encourage him to get to a yes” though Johnson acknowledged Fitzpatrick has “got a number of things he’s just concerned about.”
The final vote has been delayed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ so-called magic minute, or the unlimited speaking time granted to party leaders that’s been stretched into its sixth hour. Jeffries could break the all-time record set by then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who spoke for about eight and a half hours in 2021 to delay passage of Democrats’ domestic policy package.
Congress
Conservatives: Trump won our megabill votes by promising crackdown on renewable energy credits
Hard-line House conservatives said President Donald Trump assured them his administration would strictly enforce rules for wind or solar projects to qualify for the tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act — a pledge that persuaded them to back the party’s megabill.
“What he’s going to do is use his powers as chief executive to make sure that the companies that apply for solar credits, as an example, he’s going to make sure that they’re doing what they say when they say they’ve started construction,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said on CNBC on Thursday morning. “He’s going to make sure they’ve done that.”
The Senate passed its version of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill earlier this week that included compromise language on the phaseout of incentives for solar and wind generation projects under the Democrats’ 2022 climate law.
The language gave projects one year to begin construction to claim the current tax credit, while projects that start later would need to be placed into service by 2027. That marked a shift from the language in the House version, H.R. 1 (119), supported by conservative hard-liners that only would provide 60 days for projects to begin construction.
Conservatives also opposed a “safe harbor” clause allowing projects to qualify for the credits if they begin construction by incurring 5 percent of the total cost of the work.
Norman, who voted to proceed to a final vote on the measure, said that Trump gave assurances that changes were going to be made, “particularly with getting permits,” although he did not provide further details. And while the president can’t remove the subsidies, Trump’s pledge on enforcement of the changes helped win support from conservatives.
“They wanted to put when construction began [as] when the time frame would extend from, like the wind and solar. We wanted date of service, which means they can’t take a backhoe out there and dig a ditch and say that’s construction,” he said. “So things like that the president is going to enforce.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also said Thursday that Trump heard conservatives’ “concerns about the energy sector” and confirmed the administration would vigorously enforce construction dates for the phaseout of the credits.
“That was huge,” Burchett said.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Congress
Jeffries calls out Republicans over Medicaid ahead of final megabill vote
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is blasting Republican colleagues over Medicaid as he issues extended remarks ahead of the final GOP megabill vote.
Jeffries is utilizing his so-called “magic minute” to read off letters sent in by individuals in each state who rely on benefits that potentially hang in the balance as a result of the megabill’s provisions.
After reading a story from Arizona and criticizing Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz), Jeffries told the chamber: “I’m still in the A section right now, so strap in.”
He read another story from a constituent in GOP Rep. David Valadao’s district in California, which Jeffries said has the highest concentration of Medicaid recipients in the country. The writer’s son has Down syndrome and autism and lives at home with aging parents. He requires in-home care, which is provided through a Medicaid service that could be threatened.
Jeffries said his goal in reading out these stories is to “lift up the voices of every day Americans all across the country.”
“This one big ugly Republican bill has put a target on their back,” Jeffries said. “This is a question for so many individuals of life and death … It is so extraordinary that in the middle of the night, Americans face a bill that will target their healthcare.”
The minority leader is also hinting at the vulnerability of certain Republicans who are voting to advance the bill in potentially toss up districts. Jeffries said one letter came from someone in a district “currently represented by Congressman Gabe Evans — currently represented.”
Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Jeffries would speak for an hour, but it’s unclear how long the speech will go on.
“I’m going to take my time,” Jeffries declared to applause from Democrats on the floor.
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