U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, known as “Pelosi’s closest friend in Congress” and comes from the same state (California) and is a member of the same party (democrat).
Eshoo has requested the highest ranking senator, Speaker Pelosi, to correct the definition of the term “broker” in the Senate’s infrastructure bill, (correctly) saying it's too broad and may be difficult for some entities to comply with.
In an open letter she writes “When the House takes up the Senate bill, I encourage you to amend the problematic broker definition in Section 80603 of the legislation”.
Eshoo joins a growing group of bipartisan lawmakers pushing back against the crypto provision. House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and a handful of other Congressmen on both sides of the political aisle have expressed their support for changing the language.
The infrastructure bill, a priority for U.S. President Joe Biden, will fund $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements or new initiatives around the country, such as passenger rail and electric vehicle charging. Some $550 billion of this will come from new spending, including “pay-fors,” measures meant to raise funds to pay for the initiatives in the bill.
Under the current terms of the provision, any entity that facilitates a crypto transaction on behalf of another person would be treated as a broker, meaning they would have to file specific tax information reports which would include know-your-customer details. However, industry proponents are concerned that this would include miners or other network validators and hardware developers, who don’t typically have access to this sort of information.
Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) proposed an amendment to narrow the scope of the language, while the provision’s original author, Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as well as Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) introduced a different amendment. Ultimately, the Senate proceeded without considering any amendments, leading to the majority of the group introducing a compromise amendment that was blocked under Senate procedural rules.
Leaving the big question - will Pelosi go against President Biden, whos has shown a severe lack of understanding when it comes to anything tech related? Supporting the bill in it's current form being the latest example.
This as Biden's approval hit new lows today, with 2 polls, Economist/YouGov and Quinnipiac both showing him at 47% (For perspective, Obama was at 62%, Bush Jr was at 55.8% at the same time into their presidency)
The house expected to take up the bill when it returns at the end of August when it returns from recess.
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Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk
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