Can Congress Do Anything?
Seemingly not. Last week, one of the most promising bills so far – a federal stablecoin construct – sputtered and died. Resurrection is possible, especially in the lame-duck, but we find it dispiriting that a bipartisan bill that almost every key policy-maker thinks urgent is nonetheless doomed in regular order, let alone in the hail-Mary attempted last week via a must-pass bill. The legislation cannot advance without compromise between HFSC Chair McHenry (R-NC) and Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) and, even if the tantalizingly-close agreement between them materializes after more than two years of negotiations, it still has to get to the House floor – possible – and then advance in the Senate – even harder.