House Conservatives Paralyze the Chamber in Protest Against Trump-Backed Crypto Bills, Including Senate’s GENIUS Act

The House of Representatives is paralyzed after a sizable group of the chamber’s conservatives voted against beginning debate on a trio of crypto bills backed by President Trump because there is no guarantee that Congress will ban a government-backed digital dollar.

The hardliners say they need all three bills — including the GENIUS Act — put in one package, though that could risk final passage back in the Senate. 

On Tuesday, the House voted on what is known as a “rule,” which is just a procedural measure that sets up debate for a certain piece of legislation or a group of bills. In total, 13 Republicans and all Democrats voted against the rule which would have allowed the House to begin debate on the three crypto bills, as well as the annual Defense Department funding bill. 

One of the GOP “no” votes came from the majority leader, Congressman Steve Scalise, who only voted against the rule so that he could call it up again at a later time. 

The chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Congressman Andy Harris, tells the Sun that he and his conservative colleagues sank the procedural motion because the Senate crypto regulation bill — known as the GENIUS Act — does not include a ban on the Federal Reserve issuing government-backed digital dollars. 

“It was about central bank digital currency,” Mr. Harris said when asked why they sank the rule. “We have to put a stake through its heart. Permanently.”

The rule would have allowed the House to consider a bill banning the creation of a central bank digital currency, though there was no guarantee that the Senate would take it up. If that bill — the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act — were to arrive in the Senate, it would require 60 votes, which would be unlikely given Democrats’ opposition. 

“Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, a CBDC is a digital form of sovereign currency that is issued, monitored, and managed by a central bank,” the majority whip and sponsor of the bill, Congressman Tom Emmer, said at a committee hearing earlier this year. 

“In short, a CBDC is government-controlled programmable money that, if designed without privacy protections of cash, could give the federal government unilateral authority to surveil Americans’ transactions and restrict politically unpopular activity,” Mr. Emmer said. 

If these issues are not resolved, the House could be forced to leave town for the remainder of the week. One Freedom Caucus member who did vote for the rule on Tuesday, Congressman Warren Davidson, said that the rule set the schedule for the rest of their work period through Thursday.

“That was the rule for the whole week,” he said after the vote on Tuesday. 

If conservatives refused to budge in their opposition to the three-bill approach, then there may be serious consequences for the president’s DOGE agenda as well. The Senate is currently considering what is known as a rescissions package, which would claw back $9 billion in congressionally appropriated funds for things like PBS, NPR, global health programs, and foreign aid. 

The bill was passed by the House last month, though if Congress fails to pass the bill by Friday, it will expire and the process will start all over again. The Senate is set to start amending the bill on Tuesday night, which will require the House to vote again before the bill’s expiration on Friday night.