Legislation to create a framework for payment stablecoins failed to clear a key hurdle on the Senate floor Thursday, after a partisan dispute threw a wrench in recent progress.
Senators voted 48-49 to end debate on a motion to proceed on the GENIUS Act, short of the 60 votes required to move the measure further along the road to final passage.
The legislation, which passed out of the Senate Banking Committee in March with the support of five Democrats, had been sailing along smoothly prior to last week.
However, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) sought to expedite a vote on the bill, crypto-friendly Democrats revolted and pull their support.
They accused Republicans of attempting to force a vote on the GENIUS Act before wrapping up negotiations with Democrats, who have continued to voice concerns about anti-money laundering and national security provisions.
The two sides appeared to be nearing a deal ahead of Thursday’s vote, but Senate Democrats said Thursday morning that they still had yet to see new bill text.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking subcommittee on digital assets, pushed to delay the vote until Monday, emphasizing that they had made “great progress.”
“The reason you’re hearing some hesitancy, the legislation of this scope and importance really just cannot be rushed, and we need time both to educate our colleagues and people,” he said on the Senate floor.
“We’re not shutting down,” he added. “We don’t want to shut this down to the point where we’re ending all this work that we have put into it.”
His proposal was ultimately rejected, and the Senate moved forward with the vote.
After the motion was voted down, Thune slammed Democrats, arguing they would have had an opportunity to consider more tweaks before a final vote.
“If Democrats were interested in further changes as they claim, they would have had the chance to make those changes on the floor,” Thune said.
“All they had to do was vote for cloture. Not every bill that comes to the floor is a final bill. Now, that might be how it worked when they were in control, but Republicans are doing it differently.”
