WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hours before a vote on major cryptocurrency legislation Monday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said: “I’m hoping that the second time will be the charm.”
And it was, handing a big victory to U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, 11 days after the Senate blocked the measure that she co-sponsored and helped draft.
A vote on final passage must still be held, and Thune said the bill could be amended on the floor. But the late vote Monday to end debate was subject to a higher threshold than the forthcoming final vote, and the legislation cleared the high bar with room to spare.
Sixty votes were needed to advance the GENIUS Act, which stands for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins. The 66-32 vote Monday night tees up a final one not yet scheduled, which needs only 51 votes in the affirmative.
The GOP holds a 53-47 edge in the chamber.
In the May 8 vote, which also required 60 votes in favor to move the GENIUS Act along, only 48 senators gave the go-ahead.
The GENIUS Act sets out a broad regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
‘Crypto Queen’
Lummis sponsored similar stablecoin legislation in the previous Democrat-controlled Senate. Though she was not the bill’s lead sponsor this time around, she had a major hand in writing it and was one of four co-sponsors.
Lummis chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee and has earned the moniker “Crypto Queen.”
“Digital assets are the future, and now we’re one step closer to ensuring America leads the way,” Lummis told Cowboy State Daily in a statement issued by her office Monday night after the vote.
The statement thanked Thune as well as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-South Carolina; U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, the bill’s lead sponsor; and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat with whom Lummis has worked closely in the previous and current Congresses on cryptocurrency bills.
Thune: Same Bill
“The bill brought up a week and a half ago is the exact same bill the Democrats, apparently, now are willing to move forward on,” Thune said before the nighttime voting began.
Some Democrats previously said the bill lacked consumer protections, as well as guardrails against corruption.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, continued those criticisms Monday.
“What has changed in the bill since the last vote? The answer: not much,” said Warren, who voted against it Monday, as before. “Its basic flaws remain unaddressed. While a strong stablecoin bill is the best possible outcome, this weak bill is worse than no bill at all.”
Proponents say the bill aims to grow the economy through stablecoins while including consumer protections, tools to fight money laundering, and provisions to safeguard the financial sector.
Warren said the bill will do the opposite of those things.
Trump Factor
“I am deeply concerned that this bill will directly lead to the next financial meltdown,” Warren said.
She criticized President Donald Trump and his family’s involvement in the cryptocurrency realm, which includes a stablecoin called USD1.
“Trump and his family have already pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars from his crypto ventures, and they stand to make hundreds of millions more from his stablecoin, USD1, if this bill passes,” she said.
She also criticized Trump's selling of his own meme coins, holding a contest in which the top 220 buyers would get to join the president at a gala dinner May 22 at a Trump-owned golf resort in Northern Virginia, just outside the nation's capital.
Reuters reported May 12 that buyers spent an estimated $148 million in that $TRUMP coins contest.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
