Senate Democrats on Thursday voted down a procedural motion that would allow the upper chamber to take up landmark GOP-led cryptocurrency legislation, delivering a stunning blow to Republicans on one of their first major policy pushes since clinching a trifecta.
The upper chamber voted 48-49 not to proceed on the crypto bill, squashing the effort following a chaotic week of negotiations in which the GOP backers of the legislation sought to win over a group of key Democratic holdouts.
All Democrats and three Republicans — including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Josh Hawley of Missouri — voted against the effort, which required 60 votes to advance. Democratic negotiators pushed to delay the vote until next week to give them more time to circulate potential changes with members, but GOP leaders plowed ahead.
