House fails to override veto of anti-SAB 121 bill

The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to uphold President Joe Biden’s veto of Joint Resolution 109, the legislation that sought to invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission’s staff accounting bill 121.

Two hundred and twenty-eight Representatives voted to overturn the veto while 184 voted to uphold Biden’s decision. A two thirds majority — 290 out of 435 Reps. — was needed to override the veto.

Representatives voted on the measure late Thursday morning after the vote was delayed Wednesday evening.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., spoke in favor of overriding the veto Wednesday, arguing the bipartisan support the resolution received is proof Reps. should stand their ground.

“SAB 121 is one of the most glaring examples of the regulatory overreach that has defined Chair Gary Gensler’s tenure at the [SEC],” McHenry said. “It limits consumers options to safely custody their digital assets, upending decades of bank custody practices and increasing concentration risk.”

Read more from our opinion section: It’s time to overturn SAB 121

The House and Senate passed Joint Resolution 109 in May. The legislation, if passed, would have overturned SAB 121, the accounting guidance that states digital asset custodians should report a liability and “corresponding assets” on their balance sheets for all custodied cryptocurrencies.

Each chamber approved the resolution, which was brought under the Congressional Review Act, with bipartisan support. Thirty-three Democrats in total voted in favor of the legislation across both chambers.

President Biden, as expected, vetoed the resolution shortly after it was passed. His administration stated that by invoking the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers could “inappropriately constrain the SEC’s ability to ensure appropriate guardrails.”

“President Biden vetoed the first digital asset-specific legislation that ever passed the House and the Senate,” McHenry said. “It’s never been clearer; this administration would rather play politics and side with power-hungry bureaucrats over the American people.”

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