US Committee Advances Stable Act — Two Stablecoin Bills Now Head to Floor Vote

Key Takeaways

• The US Financial Committee approved the STABLE Act with a 32-17 vote in favor.
• The markup discussion was dominated by Democrats protesting against the Trump family-backed WLFI stablecoin launch.
• The GENIUS Act and STABLE Act now await floor vote before coming into force.

The United States Financial Committee passed the STABLE Act after a 13-hour marathon debate followed by a vote in favor.

This approval marks the second stablecoin bill to pass the Financial Committee after the GENIUS Act, which was approved in the second week of March.

STABLE Act Passes Amid Trump’s Stablecoin Launch Uproar 

The US House Financial Services Committee has passed the stablecoin framework bill, the STABLE Act, with a 32-17 vote. 

The markup session was dominated by Democrats’ concerns over conflicts of interest due to Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) launch of stablecoin USD1 .

Most Democrats in today’s markup session emphasized the conflicts of interest caused by the stablecoin controlled by the Trump family. Committee Ranking Member Waters noted that an effort is underway to block the President’s company from issuing a stablecoin. 

“If there is no effort to block the President of the United States from owning a stablecoin business, I will never be able to agree on supporting this bill, and I would ask other members not to be enablers, allowing the President of the United States to get away with this,” she explained.

Ranking Member Maxine Waters and Congressman Sam Liccardo put forth several amendments that would prohibit federal officials from sponsoring a stablecoin to thwart foreign influence, forbid the government from using a stablecoin associated with the administration, or ban members of the administration or their families from receiving advance notice of rulemaking.

The bill ultimately received bipartisan support from six Democrats, including Reps. Janelle Bynum, Josh Gotttheimer, Gregory Meeks, Jim Himes, Ritchie Torres, and Sam Liccardo voted favorably.

Two Stablecoin Bills Await Floor Vote

The approval of the STABLE Act on April 3 marks the second stablecoin bill to pass the House Committee in less than a month.

Earlier in the second week of March, the Banking Committee approved the GENIUS Act, another popular stablecoin bill introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty.

Both the bills now await a vote in their respective chambers and floor debate.

According to a report by Eleanor Terrett citing two crypto lobbyists, there are still some discrepancies between the two laws. Thus, there will probably be a concerted effort behind the scenes to weed out apparent differences over the coming weeks.

“If they can get them to be in relatively the same place on their own, it will avoid having to set up a so-called conference committee, which is formed so members from both chambers can negotiate to create a final version of the bill everyone agrees on,” Terrett noted.

The former Fox reporter noted that the House is also set to move on to market structure. The first hearing on the subject is set for next Wednesday, April 9.