{"id":11349,"date":"2025-07-16T12:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-trump-puts-out-another-fire-for-johnson\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T12:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T12:03:25","slug":"capitol-agenda-trump-puts-out-another-fire-for-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-trump-puts-out-another-fire-for-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Trump puts out another fire for Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaker Mike Johnson is trying again to pass landmark cryptocurrency legislation this week after Tuesday\u2019s failed rule vote. This time, President Donald Trump says he has the votes.<\/p>\n

After 12 hard-liners tanked the procedural vote setting up debate on three cryptocurrency bills, the president announced he flipped the holdouts<\/a> after a meeting with them in the Oval Office Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnson was at the meeting via telephone, and looks forward to taking the Vote as early as possible,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

Some of the House Republicans who tanked the crypto rule were also at the Treasury Department Tuesday night talking through their concerns about a possible central bank digital currency, according to two Republicans granted anonymity. <\/p>\n

House Freedom Caucus members were initially demanding a ban on any government sponsored digital currency be added to the GENIUS Act, the Senate-passed stablecoin bill, out of concerns over privacy and stifling private sector innovation. That language already exists in the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill also slated for action this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral bank digital currency \u2014 we have to put a stake in its heart once and for all,\u201d House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) told Blue Light News Tuesday after the failed vote. \u201cThe action under that rule wouldn\u2019t have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what assurances the holdouts got. But the House is now flipping its schedule: lawmakers will vote on the GENIUS Act Wednesday after the rule vote, rather than voting first on the CLARITY Act. Trump has said he wants the Senate-passed stablecoin bill sent to his desk this week. After the party-line rule vote, all three cryptocurrency bills are expected to easily pass with some Democratic support.<\/p>\n

Speaking of central banks: Several Republicans left the Oval Office meeting under the impression that Trump is about to move against Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) posted to X<\/a> last night that an announcement is \u201cimminent.\u201d Powell has steadfastly insisted he will remain in his post, and firing Powell could easily backfire on Trump and cause markets to tank.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vote-a-rama begins: <\/b>Senate Majority Leader John Thune can let out an initial sigh of relief after Republicans cleared the first procedural hurdles Tuesday on Trump\u2019s effort to claw back billions in funding. Senators will move forward with a vote-a-rama on amendments starting at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, when rescissions skeptics like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) plan to take another shot at further tweaks to the bill.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Crypto hearing: <\/b>The Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee will meet Wednesday morning to discuss ways to harmonize the tax code with the other regulatory blueprints for digital assets pending votes on the chamber floor. The hearing will feature testimony from industry players including Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger and Jason Somensatto, director of policy at Coin Center.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Epstein fallout: <\/b>Most Republican members are steering clear of the Epstein turmoil, but signs of discomfort are showing. Johnson broke with Trump Tuesday to call on the Department of Justice to release all of its information on Jeffrey Epstein and for Attorney General Pam Bondi to explain her previous statement about having some sort of \u201cclient list.\u201d Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) is pushing House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to invite Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to testify in a public hearing before the committee.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill, Calen Razor and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying again to pass landmark cryptocurrency legislation this week after Tuesday\u2019s failed rule vote. This time, President Donald Trump says he has the votes. After 12 hard-liners tanked the procedural vote setting up debate on three cryptocurrency bills, the president announced he flipped the holdouts after a meeting with them in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}