Crypto Bill Advances Out of House Agriculture Committee

The House Agriculture Committee advanced the Financial Innovation Technology for the 21st Century Act, a day after the House Financial Services Committee did.

A few hours after beginning debate and voting on amendments to the bill, which would create a federal regulatory framework for crypto in the U.S., the House Agriculture Committee referred the bill to the full House of Representatives by a voice vote.

Lawmakers debated a number of amendments to the bill, including provisions on customer disclosures and asset management protections.

In opening comments, committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) noted that Congress has been working on crypto legislation for years.

"We learned that current federal laws and regulations provide few rules of the road for those who want to engage with these emerging technologies, leading to complicated enforcement actions by regulators and creating further confusion in the industry and market," he said.

The House Agriculture Committee vote followed a daylong markup session in the House Financial Services Committee, which voted to advance the bill Wednesday night alongside a number of other crypto-focused pieces of legislation.

The House Financial Services Committee also met again Thursday to debate stablecoin legislation.

However, the House Agriculture Committee markup sharply contrasted with the verbal scrum down the hall in the Financial Services Committee Thursday. While the Financial Services Committee saw Democrats argue for more time to work on the bill and shouting on the floor, the Agriculture Committee worked through various amendments, adopting proposals from both Democrats and Republicans.

The hearing also ended well before that of the Financial Services Committee.

"Did we do better than Financial Services?" Thompson joked after the end of the session.