The senior Democrat claimed that McHenry broke off negotiations just as a bipartisan deal on stablecoin legislation was about to be reached, according to the head of the House Financial Services Committee.
The Financial Services Committee Chair, Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and the panel’s senior Democrat both blamed the White House for the impasse, which prevented lawmakers from reaching a bipartisan agreement on stablecoin legislation.
The announcement comes a day after three proposals on cryptocurrency concerns, which are the first laws entirely devoted to the subject, were pushed by MPs with a financial concentration to a vote in the full House of Representatives.
“Today I had hoped to announce an agreement with the ranking member on stablecoins legislation,” McHenry added, referring to the committee’s senior Democrat, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). “This won’t be the situation… Once again, the White House’s refusal to make concessions is what put an end to the negotiations.
McHenry expressed his “disappointment,” but he did not go into specifics on why he disagreed with the executive branch.
The plan, according to Waters, is “deeply problematic and bad for America,” “promotes a race to the bottom by creating 58 different licenses,” allows issuers to possibly include a wide range of assets in their reserve, and permits big businesses like Meta or Walmart to issue money.
Waters continued, “I urge Republicans to pull this extremist piece of legislation from the markup and your culture wars,” pointing to the absence of Federal Reserve oversight and of provisions for diversity and inclusion.
The Republican stablecoin bill’s markup on Thursday was particularly tense, with Republicans pushing forward and Democrats stalling on every procedural issue. The effort in the committee to openly negotiate the bill’s details highlights the persistent deadlock for U.S. stablecoin supervision because such legislation likely needs bipartisan support to succeed in the Senate.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a White House official. According to Waters, the Fed and the U.S. Treasury Department oppose the plan as it is currently written.
McHenry (R-N.C.) last week launched the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, which aims to provide a legal framework for cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of fiat currency.
With the European Union’s markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) scheduled to go into force in 2024, McHenry has previously expressed concern that competing countries are “ahead of the game” in regards to regulating cryptocurrency.
