WASHINGTON — House Democrats, led by House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters of California, walked out of a planned joint hearing on cryptocurrency Tuesday, preventing the hearing from taking place.
Joint committee hearings require unanimous consent, meaning Waters' walkout effectively blocked the hearing from taking place. The House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture panel instead held a roundtable while Waters and other committee Democratic lawmakers held an alternative event at the same time.
Waters was protesting Republicans' failure to include or consider legislation that would prevent President Donald Trump and his family from profiting off their
Waters said she would object to the hearing unless Republicans agreed to include her amendment or a substantially similar one that would prevent Trump from benefiting financially from his position as chief executive.
"I am deeply concerned that Republicans aren't just ignoring Trump's corruption, they are legitimizing Trump and his family's efforts to enrich themselves on the backs of average Americans," Waters said. "Through his crypto businesses, Trump has turned the office of the presidency into a personal money-making machine. He is flouting our country's national security and anti-corruption laws, allowing adversaries like China and Russia to curry favor, either blatantly or anonymously, through transfers of money to him and his inner circle."
Waters' move comes as she and other leading Democratic lawmakers try to peel members of their own caucus away from supporting Republican-led crypto legislation. The 2024 election saw a
"I want to commend my colleagues for being here," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., one of the lawmakers who walked out of the hearing with Waters. "It takes a little bit of courage when all the money and power is on one side of this argument.
"We're all aware that the crypto industry spent $45 million against Sherrod Brown last year, and if you haven't been threatened by crypto yet, you soon will be, as soon as they watch this tape," Sherman continued.
Republicans do need some Democratic support to pass crypto legislation, which they have so far obtained for a separate
"The bill as it currently stands still has numerous issues that must be addressed, including adding stronger provisions on anti-money laundering, foreign issuers, national security, preserving the safety and soundness of our financial system and accountability for those who don't meet the act's requirements," the senators said.
House Financial Services Committee chair French Hill, R-Ark., said Waters' objection came after the hearing was noticed six weeks previously, and she was given the opportunity to negotiate some of its terms.
"We agreed not to notice legislation to this joint hearing, yet the ranking member is objecting today," he said. "We determined a seating chart, discussed opening statements and witnesses, yet the ranking member is objecting today."
Hill said Waters was "undermining the opportunity for these two committees to engage in a conversation of vital importance to the American people."
"Those of us that remain in this room will not sit idly by and abandon the urgent work we have before us that our committees have set out to do," Hill said. "We'll do the difficult work of finding common ground on issues like digital assets that matter so strongly to Americans, we will try not to silence one another over policy disagreement."
The hearing — now a roundtable — continued with some Democrats in attendance, including some moderates who remained to monitor the proceedings after more progressive lawmakers left to hold their own forum.
Tensions between those Democratic lawmakers and the Republican majority occasionally bubbled over, and Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., one of the main cosponsors of the market structure bill, and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., the ranking member of the subcommittee on digital assets, talked over each other at length after Steil pulled recognition for Lynch to speak over a policy disagreement about how to handle the Trump family conflict of interest.
"Too bad for the ranking member that it is not a hearing," Steil said. "If it was a hearing, the ranking member would be protected by House rules."
