Senate Democrats Say They Want a Crypto Bill—But Republicans Tanked Negotiations

Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee said Thursday they are deeply committed to passing a crypto market structure bill—but argued that Republicans, and particularly the White House, have risked derailing the legislation by walking away from bipartisan negotiations.

For months, senators on the committee from both parties have worked to find common ground on a bill that would firmly legalize most of the U.S. crypto industry. But earlier this month, committee chair Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) opted to move a GOP draft of the bill forward—one lacking any Democratic buy-in.

At a committee markup of the bill Thursday, all 11 Democrats voted against passing the bill onto the Senate floor—but the legislation still squeaked by, with all 12 Republicans voting in favor.

That victory could prove to be a Pyrrhic one, given the legislation will require bipartisan support to ultimately pass.

During this morning’s markup, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he and his colleagues want to get to yes on the bill, but Republicans cutting off negotiations has made achieving that goal difficult.

“To be clear, the product put before us today is not the bipartisan draft we’re working on,” Booker, Democrats’ lead crypto negotiator on the committee, said. “Right now, our inability to work together and move together in this final process is undermining our ability to get it done.”

Booker said even last night, he was working with stakeholders to resolve DeFi-related issues in the bill—but that such progress was not reflected in the bill voted on today.

He put blame for the partisan shift in bill negotiations on the Trump administration, and underscored President Donald Trump’s own involvement in the crypto sector—which Booker said has been a key obstacle to getting legislation over the finish line.

“The White House has made this infinitely harder,” Booker said.

Other key Democrats emphasized Thursday that bill language preventing the president and his family from engaging in crypto—a deal-breaker for the White House—would be imperative to winning back their support.

“It’s going to need to include ethics language,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said. “It should cover all federal officials… from the president on down.”

Even Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), whose 2024 campaign received key support from crypto industry super PACs, drew the same red line.

“I’m just disappointed that we’re here where we are,” Sloktin said. “It feels like the White House came in and said… ‘We’re gonna shortcut what you’re doing and turn this into a partisan issue’, when it doesn’t have to be.”

Slotkin emphasized that bill language restricting the Trump family’s lucrative crypto ventures would be key for getting her vote at a future date.

“The ethics piece, to me, is a big part of it,” she said. “I know the other side would be having a conniption if this was Joe Biden or Barack Obama. It’s just an enormous amount of money.”

Boozman, for his part, said he still wants the bill to be a bipartisan product, and suggested Democrats could add amendments at a later date to make the legislation more amenable to them. But Republicans voted down three Democrat amendments at Thursday’s markup—including one that would restrict all federal officials, including the president, from issuing or endorsing digital assets.