After putting forward their dueling amendments to the damaging crypto provision in the infrastructure bill, Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) managed to reach a compromise with yet another rewrite.
The last-minute effort, however, ended up being ultimately futile since Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) have objected to the amendment due to a dispute over military spending.
Shelby asked for a $50 billion defense amendment to the bill, which didn't sit well with Sanders.
It was only possible to change the language of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill by unanimous consent since the Senate moved to invoke “cloture” on Monday. This means that the amendment will not make it to the final bill.
There aren't 5 senators in this body with any real understanding of how cryptocurrency operates.
What’s next?
While the fight in the Senate is already over, the cryptocurrency lobby will now direct its resources to the House of Representatives, according to CoinCenter's Jerry Brito:
However, the House is not likely to make any changes in the text of the bill that is expected to be passed on Tuesday morning.