Cryptocurrency amendment blocked in Senate

A bipartisan amendment to redefine who would be subject to new cryptocurrency regulation requirements under the Senate infrastructure bill was blocked Monday after Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) tried to attach his untreated proposal to boost military spending by $50 billion.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) put forward the amendment, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and is supported by the Treasury Department, and tried to get it added to the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But after Shelby requested to add on his amendment to boost military spending to the bill, it was blocked by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

Toomey expressed disgust that the amendment was stuck.

“Because there’s a difference of opinion on whether or not the senator from Alabama should get a vote on his amendment, because that is not agreed to, the body is refusing to take up an amendment that has broad bipartisan support, that we all know fixes something that badly needs to be fixed,” Toomey said on the Senate floor. 

“This isn’t like a whim of the senator from Pennsylvania, there’s like nobody who disputes that there’s a problem here,” he added.