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Republican Sen. John Kennedy said in an interview on Wednesday that he will support a key cryptocurrency bill in the Senate Banking Committee, after striking a deal with Chair Tim Scott and meeting with President Donald Trump about moving the upper chamber’s housing bill.
The Louisiana Republican said Scott has agreed to add two of his amendments to the market structure legislation, which would overhaul federal regulation of digital assets and is one of the few major bipartisan bills that could make it to the president’s desk this year.
In return, Kennedy will vote to advance the bill — meaning regardless of what Democrats do in the committee it will move to the Senate floor for full consideration and avoid a committee bottleneck. Kennedy, who withheld his support for the proposal for months, has not indicated how he would vote at Thursday’s meeting on the legislation until now.
“Senator Scott’s been very accommodating, including a number of amendments I suggested,” Kennedy told Semafor. “I’m going to vote for the bill, and that means it’s going to come out” of committee.
If approved by the full Senate, the cryptocurrency legislation will still need to pass the House to make it to Trump’s desk.
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One of Kennedy’s additions would create a “fiduciary duty for people within the crypto world” to act in the best interest of clients, he said. Kennedy also said his housing proposal with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was added to the package. That bill, called the Build Now Act, would give communities access to additional block grant money if they build more housing and cut back funds if they don’t improve their housing track record. Both measures were included in text released early Tuesday.
Kennedy said he will consider Democratic amendments to the bill in committee but has been informed that an ethics provision will not be included in the committee mark-up, a key Democratic priority aimed at restricting Trump administration officials — and those working for future presidential administrations — from profiting off of crypto. He said talks will continue on adding an ethics amendment to the bill later on the Senate floor, however.
“The chairman doesn’t believe we have jurisdiction. That doesn’t mean an ethics provision isn’t important,” Kennedy said.
Action on the Senate’s more sweeping housing bill remains stalled in the House amid persistent concerns over “legal drafting errors,” but Kennedy said he’s coordinating closely with the president on the legislation including meeting with Trump on Monday — the same day the president posted on Truth Social supporting the proposal. He said Trump “agreed to try to help with the overall housing bill with the couple of House members who are holding it up. I don’t know if that effort will succeed.”
Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.