Cryptocurrency brawl bogs down infrastructure bill, as Yellen and White House fight off changes
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen spoke with lawmakers Thursday to raise objections to the effort led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (DOre.) and two Republican senators to weaken the legislation’s proposed cryptocurrency overhauls, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations. Yellen lobbied Wyden about the matter, the people said.
Last month, the White House and Sen. Rob Portman (ROhio)
agreed to a proposal to require increased tax compliance for cryptocurrency
brokers as a way to help pay for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The deal
came under intense criticism from cryptocurrency investors, who have argued it
would give the Biden administration sweeping powers to virtually cripple the
growing field of cryptocurrencies.
It was also rebuked by Wyden, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (RPa.),
and Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (RWyo.), who are pushing an amendment to the
infrastructure bill intended to prevent the Biden administration from applying
the new rules to a wide swath of actors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Click here for more information: Cryptocurrency Market News
Some senators had hoped to pass the bipartisan bill on
Thursday night, but the debate bogged down and the cryptocurrency fight remained
one of the unresolved issues. On Thursday night, as the impasse between Wyden
and the White House appeared to deepen, Portman and Sen. Mark R. Warner (DVa.)
offered a competing amendment as a potential compromise.
The Warner Portman measure would exempt more cryptocurrency
actors from greater regulation than the initial proposal, but fewer than Wyden,
Toomey and Lummis want. The White House said publicly late Thursday it is
supporting the Portman Warner effort, as it would do less to limit the
executive branch’s new authorities over cryptocurrencies. A Treasury
spokeswoman declined to comment on Yellen’s private conversations.
“We are grateful to Chairman Wyden for his leadership in
pushing the Senate to address this issue. However, we believe that the
alternative amendment put forward by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema
strikes the right balance and makes an important step forward in promoting tax
compliance,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement provided
to The Washington Post, noting the work of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (DAriz.).
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