Senate Agriculture Committee Delays Crypto Market Structure Bill Markup by Two Days

TLDR

• The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its crypto market structure bill markup hearing by two days.
• Severe winter weather across the East Coast disrupted travel and forced changes to the Senate schedule.
• The committee rescheduled the hearing for Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• Lawmakers also delayed Senate funding votes, affecting multiple committee hearings.
• This marks the second time the Agriculture Committee has rescheduled the crypto bill hearing.

The Senate Agriculture Committee has postponed its markup hearing on the crypto market structure bill by two days. The hearing was initially scheduled for Tuesday afternoon but will now take place on Thursday morning. Severe winter weather disruptions across the eastern United States prompted the schedule change.

Winter Storm Disrupts Senate Schedule and Crypto Bill Markup

The Senate Agriculture Committee planned to debate amendments and vote on its crypto market structure bill this week. The legislation seeks to define how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees crypto markets. However, a powerful winter storm disrupted travel and forced lawmakers to adjust schedules.

Flight cancellations affected large parts of the East Coast over the weekend. Many senators faced difficulty returning to Washington after being out of session last week. As a result, Senate leadership revised its voting calendar.

The Senate had already canceled votes planned for Monday afternoon on a government funding package. Lawmakers must approve funding bills by Friday night to avoid a government shutdown. The House of Representatives passed its funding package last Thursday.

Senate leaders rescheduled funding votes to Tuesday afternoon. This adjustment gave lawmakers more time to travel. The change directly affected committee hearings planned earlier in the week. On Monday, the Agriculture Committee confirmed the new hearing time. The markup session will now occur on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET. The committee cited “winter weather” as the reason for the delay.

This marks the Second Time Lawmakers Rescheduled the Hearing

This postponement marks the second time, as we had reported earlier, that lawmakers rescheduled the Agriculture Committee’s crypto bill hearing. The committee previously moved the hearing from January 15 to January 27. That earlier change provided lawmakers additional time to review the draft legislation.

Chair John Boozman stated that the earlier schedule revision supported transparency and thorough review. He emphasized the need for lawmakers to examine proposed amendments before debate. The committee planned to publish the bill text ahead of the rescheduled hearing.

The delay followed a continued policy disagreement within the committee. Boozman said last week that talks with Senator Cory Booker failed due to “fundamental differences in policy.” Democrats later introduced amendments addressing ethics requirements and agency governance.

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