Crypto Darling Gillibrand’s 11th-Hour Flip-Flop Helps Block Trump Crypto Bill
Just hours before switching sides, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was lobbying fellow Democrats to advance the bill. The post Crypto Darling Gillibrand’s 11th-Hour Flip-Flop Helps Block Trump Crypto Bill appeared first on The Intercept .
Hours before progressives joined together to halt a crypto bill, a leading Senate Democrat was actually trying to push the legislation forward. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a centrist Democrat who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, privately urged fellow Democrats to support the bill which aimed to create a regulatory framework for the crypto industry, according to Politico.
However, progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, mounted a public campaign against the bill, alleging that it could help President Donald Trump add to the $1.4 billion in crypto profits he made in the previous year. During the final vote, Gillibrand joined her Democratic colleagues in voting against advancing the bill, along with four Republicans, resulting in a 49-50 tally – far below the 60 votes needed to proceed to debate.
Her about-face reflected the tightrope walk that moderate Democrats face in the Trump era, as many previously backed crypto-friendly regulations, but grew increasingly wary of publicly siding with the industry due to the significant profits Trump earned from his meme coin and other crypto ventures.
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