5 days ago
The House of Representatives adjourned a week up of docket connected July 24, initiating its August recess aboriginal and efficaciously halting each level enactment until aft Labor Day.
Speaker Mike Johnson announced the interruption during a level session, ending votes and procedural enactment until astatine slightest the week of September 8.
This recess comes amid an intensifying statement implicit a projected amendment to merchandise files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein amendment to GENIUS Act
Last week, eleventh-hour maneuvering implicit an Epstein-related amendment archetypal threatened to stall House proceedings but was yet contained. Rep. Ro Khanna attempted to connect a measurement mandating the Justice Department to merchandise Epstein files wrong 30 days to the stablecoin GENIUS Act.
The House Rules Committee rejected the amendment successful a constrictive 6–5 vote, aft which Democrats threatened further procedural action.
The continued quality prompted Speaker Johnson to denote that nary further votes would hap earlier September, concluding the chamber’s league a week earlier than scheduled.
While this determination pauses ongoing legislative activity, it does not derail crypto-related measures already approved connected the floor.
These see the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, which has already cleared the Senate and received President Donald Trump’s signature; the CLARITY Act, which aims to delineate regulatory jurisdiction betwixt the SEC and CFTC; and the Anti-CBDC Act, which seeks to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a cardinal slope integer currency.
The second 2 bills are present earlier the Senate, with nary further House enactment required pursuing the votes earlier this month.
Crypto measure delayed by aboriginal recess
The aboriginal adjournment does, however, hold enactment connected further crypto argumentation initiatives, astir notably taxation legislation.
During a July 16 House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing, members discussed the request for updates to integer plus taxation frameworks. Proposals included establishing a de minimis exemption for tiny transactions, clarifying staking reward treatment, and revising wash-sale rules. Lawmakers expressed intentions to present a draught measure “in the adjacent future,” though immoderate specified legislative question volition present beryllium deferred until aft the recess.
One crypto-adjacent measurement straight affected by the shutdown is the Veterans Affairs Distributed Ledger Innovation Act of 2025 (H.R. 3455). The bill, introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, would nonstop the Department of Veterans Affairs to measure however blockchain exertion could amended benefits claims processing.
The connection passed a subcommittee proceeding connected June 11 but inactive awaits afloat committee markup and a House level vote. As a effect of the recess, nary further enactment connected the measure is imaginable until astatine slightest the week of September 8, rendering it procedurally frozen until the enclosure reconvenes.
The authorities mandates a broad survey into however distributed ledgers mightiness heighten transparency and ratio wrong the VA’s claims systems. It outlines the request for immutable records to hint each adjudication signifier and forestall fraud, portion besides codifying the explanation of a distributed ledger to guarantee the section does not substitute accepted database solutions.
If enacted, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs would beryllium required to study findings wrong a year, including imaginable aviator programs and immoderate legislative changes needed for deployment. However, the measure remains stalled until the House resumes business.
While lobbying and committee unit enactment whitethorn proceed down the scenes passim the recess, the House’s aboriginal exit pauses immoderate caller level enactment until September.
The crypto bills that cleared the House level earlier the adjournment are unaffected and present remainder with the Senate and the White House for further consideration.
Meanwhile, measures similar the VA blockchain survey volition stay dormant until lawmakers instrumentality to Washington.
The station House recess implicit Epstein standoff stalls crypto argumentation propulsion until September appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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