The Senate passed a bill on stablecoins, a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency industry.
In a landmark decision for the digital asset sector, the U.S. Senate approved a bill before the holiday to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins that are tethered to the US dollar.
With several Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in supporting the proposed government regulations, the bill, known as the GENIUS Act, passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 68-30, Reuters
The bill must first pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before it can be given to President Donald Trump for approval.
“It is a major milestone. It establishes, for the first time, a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a rapidly developing financial product and industry,” said Andrew Olmem, a managing partner at law firm Mayer Brown and the former deputy director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term.
Crypto traders frequently utilize stablecoins, a kind of cryptocurrency created to maintain a steady value, typically a 1:1 dollar peg, to transfer money between tokens. Stablecoins, according to their proponents, can facilitate immediate payments and have seen a significant increase in use in recent years.
The stablecoin bill, if it becomes law, would mandate that tokens be backed by liquid assets, such as short-term Treasury bills and US dollars, and that issuers reveal to the public the makeup of their reserves every month.
The cryptocurrency sector has long advocated for lawmakers to enact laws establishing regulations for digital assets, claiming that a well-defined framework may facilitate the wider use of stablecoins. The industry attempted to portray the issue as bipartisan and invested over $119 million in supporting pro-crypto congressional candidates in the previous year’s elections.
The House passed a stablecoin measure last year, but the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, did not take it up, and it died.
After seeking cryptocurrency revenue throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has attempted to significantly alter U.S. cryptocurrency regulations.
The White House wants a stablecoin measure passed by August, according to Bo Hines, the head of Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.
Other Democrats said that measure needed stricter anti-money laundering safeguards and restrictions on foreign stablecoin issuers, expressing worry that the plan would not stop large tech companies from issuing their own private stablecoins.“A bill that turbocharges the stablecoin market, while facilitating the president’s corruption and undermining national security, financial stability, and consumer protection is worse than no bill at all,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in remarks on the Senate floor in May.
The Senate has been very busy this month.
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate approved three ambassadors appointed by President Donald Trump, stationing them in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Italy, respectively.
All three new ambassadors, Warren Stephens, Tom Barrack, and Tilman Feritta, are billionaires who generously support Trump and other Republicans. They all garnered a few Democratic votes, as did all Republicans.
The Senate also approved Stephens as the new ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland by a vote of 59-39.
The Senate confirmed Barrack, a private equity executive and longtime Trump ally, in 60-36 vote on Tuesday.
“For three decades, Tom successfully managed a global private equity firm,” Trump said of Barrack on Truth Social in December. “He is a well-respected and experienced voice of reason to a wide range of thought leaders in both political and business circles.”
Barrack has known Trump since the 1980s. He worked in the Reagan administration before establishing the private equity company Colony Capital. He advised Trump’s campaign in 2016 and led his 2017 inauguration committee.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 83-14 to approve Fertitta as the United States ambassador to Italy.
Fertitta, who Trump appointed to the position in December last year, is the CEO of Landry’s, a hospitality corporation that operates restaurants, hotels, casinos, and other entertainment facilities. He also owns the NBA team Houston Rockets.
Breaking news: Ocasio-Cortez suffered a double shock when socialism took over the Democratic Party.New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and socialism have taken quite a few hits in the past week. Just before New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrived in Washington for his first meeting with President Donald Trump, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution condemning what it called the “horrors of socialism.”
“A yes vote on this resolution should be a relatively straightforward, easy decision. It simply states that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America,” Republican Arkansas Rep. French Hill said.
The measure passed in a bipartisan vote of 285-98. Among the 86 Democrats who backed it were 14 members from New York and New Jersey, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who endorsed Mamdani only in the final moments of the mayoral race.
Several Democrats and progressives have also whined about House Democrats’ refusal to elevate Ocasio-Cortez while sticking with older Democrats who have been in Congress for decades.
Far-left commentator argued, “At this point almost nothing the Democratic Party does makes any damned sense. They are hanging onto their gerontocracy and consultant class at the expense of their most loyal voters. And let’s just be clear, they’ll be fine while our communities pay the price.”
Progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen said, “Democrats refuse to learn their lesson. Refuse to take generational change seriously. Refuse to spotlight the party’s most effective communicators.”
Pod Save America‘s Dan Pfeiffer concurred, submitting, “Valuing seniority over political and messaging chops is exactly how Democrats got into this mess in the first place.”
Another left-wing podcaster, Matt Lech, responded to Pfeiffer’s tweet by declaring, “It is maliciously misleading people to say this is about ‘seniority,’ which was not determinative last time. Are we gonna grow up and confront this blatant corruption here or just shadowbox.”
Mamdani and AOC have sparked a “socialist movement” that could endanger Democrats going into the 2026 midterms.
“Two more candidates who are proud to align themselves with socialism are running for important House seats in solid blue districts in Democrat-controlled states. The secret sauce fueling this phenomenon is a widely perceived belief among the progressives who dominate the grassroots of the party that the Democratic establishment is corrupt to the core and must not just be reformed but thoroughly eradicated,”
wrote Liberty Nation’s Joe Schaeffer.
That enemy is none other than California state Senator Scott Wiener, who is one of the most extreme left-wing politicians in the Golden State. But Wiener is also thought to be connected to the party’s mainstream, which could hurt him a lot more in the Bay Area than his controversial views on how transgender youth “rights” should take precedence over parental authority or how “sex workers” should be free to roam California street corners.
Chakrabarti and Wiener are both running for the Democratic nomination for the seat that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is leaving open. Three or four years ago, during the Biden administration’s White House heyday, the political climate may have supported Wiener. But in 2025, the winds of change are obviously flowing in Chakrabarti’s direction.
Chakrabarti helped start the Justice Democrats, a dissident progressive group that became well-known when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) became a rising star on the left in November 2018.
One of these fellow travelers is Chi Osse, a member of the New York City Council who is running against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in the primary.
Osse, who is 27 years old, left the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2022 because of a disagreement over policy. However, he rejoined the group this past summer. Many moderate Democrats are worried about this looming fight.
Ilhan Omar Challenger Alleges Ties To Growing Minn. Fraud Scandal
Republican challenger John Nagel is accusing Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of being deeply tied to the $1 billion Feeding Our Future fraud scandal centered in her Minneapolis-based congressional district. Nagel, who is running against Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, alleged that legislation introduced by Omar helped create the conditions that allowed the fraud to occur.
“Where did this actually start?” Nagel said, Townhall reported. “She passed legislation. Her legislation actually started it, and it allowed people to get into Feeding Our Future.”
Nagel pointed to the geographic concentration of the fraud.
“If you look at where the fraud is, it’s primarily her district, the district that I’m running in against her,” he said. “And it’s really odd to think that all the fraud just happened in a particular area.”
Omar introduced the Maintaining Essential Access to Lunch for Students Act, known as the MEALS Act, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill allowed states to provide free meals to children during school closures through alternative methods such as grab-and-go distribution and eased eligibility requirements.
The legislation was passed by Congress with bipartisan support.
Nagel alleged that individuals within Omar’s political orbit financially benefited from the fraud scheme.
He said Omar held campaign events at Safari Restaurant, a business linked to the scandal, had personal familiarity with one of its now-convicted owners, and employed a staffer who was later convicted in connection with the case.
“If you’re going to be in politics, you need to go through the people at the Safari Land restaurant,” Nagel said. “They kind of control the politics. That was her hangout. That’s where she spent money and got donations.”
Nagel said multiple individuals convicted in the case donated money to Omar’s campaign.
“Omar says that she gave the money back,” he said. “Public records show she gave some money back, but there’s a whole lot more money there that she didn’t report.”
“There’s just too much circumstantial evidence to look at this and say she had to have known something,” Nagel added. “Or at least someone on her staff knew something.”
Nagel criticized Omar’s public response to the scandal, accusing her of deflecting scrutiny.
“She made statements about how terrible it is to steal food from children,” Nagel said. “That’s a nice thing to say, but you have way too many people you’re associated with who actually did that.”
Omar said last week that the fraud stemmed from weaknesses in emergency pandemic programs.
“When you have these kinds of new programs that are designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to facilitate,” Omar said. “A lot of the COVID programs were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created.”
Nagel said the solution is a change in leadership.
“We get rid of Ilhan Omar, and we put people in Minnesota who actually want to do the right thing,” he said. “You’re going to have to entirely root out the Democratic Party and anyone who’s been letting things slide.”
Omar has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing by law enforcement, and no criminal case has been brought against her in connection with the fraud investigation.
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President Donald Trump this month ripped Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as “garbage” and said Somalis should “go back to where they came from.”
“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you, OK. Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason,” he said.
