Rep.Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.| Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Powerful Silicon Valley investors are among those pressing lawmakers to soften the tax requirements.Menlo Park, Calif.-based Andreessen Horowitz, which operates a $2.2 billion crypto venture fund, lobbied to amend the bill in the Senate and is now turning to House offices, said Tomicah Tillemann, its global head of policy.
“The fascinating thing is that this is an issue that remains largely pre-political, and you saw that in the way the debate played out in the Senate,” Tillemann said.“Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, these technologies can help solve problems that you care about.”
To be sure, it’s an issue that unites many progressives, moderates and conservatives.Khanna is deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Foster and Soto, co-chairs of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, are also members of the business-friendly New Democrat Coalition.They will likely have backup from top Republicans like Rep.
Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the top GOP member on the House Financial Services Committee.
“The current language is completely unacceptable,” McHenry said in an interview.“It needs to be fixed.”
A House leadership aide who declined to be named said Pelosi will review the bill’s language.Pelosi, who represents a San Francisco district, has gone to bat for venture capitalists in the past.
POLITICO Dispatch: August 13 The Senate passed Biden’s long-awaited bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this week.But it’s fate is tied to a massive Democratic spending plan — and things are looking a little shaky.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Subscribe on Google Podcasts The Biden administration is still uneasy with amending the bill.One administration official said Treasury and the White House would be able to live with some exclusions as drafted in the stalled Senate compromise but they prefer the version in the Senate-passed bill because it offers the government more flexibility.The official said it would be risky to add broad exclusions for certain types of crypto players when the industry was still evolving.
The White House will likely be able to rely on a number of outside advocacy organizations close to Democrats to help resist amendments.
The Open Markets Institute, a liberal think tank focused on corporate power , is among those pushing back against changes to the crypto provision.It has tried to make the case that exclusions backed by the industry appear aimed at protecting so-called decentralized finance, or DeFi, in which automated, autonomous protocols facilitate lending and trading with minimal human oversight.
The DeFi services are of growing concern for regulators who are warning of major risks to consumers.
“We will continue to be pushing to make sure that major market participants in crypto are not explicitly carved out of tax reporting requirements,” Open Markets Institute financial policy director Alexis Goldstein said.
Crypto lobbyists are still figuring out the best strategy for getting the bill changed.They were caught off guard by the initial proposal but now believe they’re better organized going into the House, Blockchain Association Executive Director Kristin Smith said.
“There are a whole new set of lawmakers who are interested in understanding what we do,” Smith said.
“I think we have a very receptive audience right now.”
But some lawmakers are considering contingency plans.Soto said cryptocurrency supporters in Congress would try to use “every avenue” to change the tax rules, including potentially through Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget package or standalone legislation.
Filed Under: Cyber Security , Silicon Valley , Anna Eshoo , Ron Wyden , Infrastructure , Nancy Pelosi , Bill Foster , Eric Swalwell , Ro Khanna , Darren Soto POLITICO Politico Logo
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