Ohio Senate Republican candidate J.D. Vance blasted on Friday a proposed cryptocurrency regulation from Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), which President Joe Biden has backed, saying it would punish Ohioans to big tech’s benefit.
Portman proposed a $30 billion cryptocurrency regulation in the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill that would serve as a “pay for” for the gargantuan $1.2 trillion bill. The regulation would increase IRS reporting requirements for the cryptocurrency industry that lawmakers and industry officials would stifle innovation and send American jobs overseas.
Portman tried to alleviate concerns by introducing a counter amendment to Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) industry-preferred solution.
Toomey and industry officials said the Portman would be “disastrous” for the cryptocurrency industry because it fails to address many of the issues surrounding the original provision in the infrastructure bill.
The Biden White House came out in favor of the amendment, and a senior Senate GOP aide confirmed to Breitbart News that the Biden Treasury Department has been lobbying heavily in favor of the Portman amendment over the Lummis-Wyden-Toomey amendment.
Vance, who aims to replace the retiring Portman, released a statement blasting the Portman-Warner-Sinema amendment and urging senators to support the Lummis-Wyden-Toomey proposal. He said that Ohioans would suffer because of Portman’s proposal and that it could even lead to a “backdoor ban” of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Vance said:
The Biden endorsed, Portman-Warner-Sinema amendment being proposed in the infrastructure bill to regulate cryptocurrencies picks Big Tech as the winners, and Ohioans are the losers. Not only would this lead to mass surveillance of those in the cryptocurrency community, experts in the field warn that it could amount to a backdoor ban of Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies.
Our tech sector used to be defined by innovative upstarts and is now dominated by boring monopolists. They focus less on tech development and more on corporate buzzwords like “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The crypto community has stood in stark contrast to this shift. It is one of the few sectors of our economy where conservatives and other free thinkers can operate without pressure from the social justice mob. This amendment threatens that community, which makes it an assault on the idea that our economy should be about making things instead of enforcing progressive dogma.
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) August 6, 2021
“I urge every Senator to reject this disastrous amendment and to instead support the Wyden-Toomey-Lummis Amendment in its place,” Vance added.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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