The US House of Representatives did not receive enough votes to override President Joe Biden’s previous veto and repeal SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121.
On July 11, 228 MPs voted in favor of HJ Res. 109 to end SAB 121, 184 voted against the resolution and 21 abstained.
The outcome represents majority support for overturning SAB 121, but is below the two-thirds vote threshold needed to counter a presidential veto.
Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that several Democrats have changed their position since an earlier vote in May. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Marc Veasey (D-TX) changed their vote to no and were against the end of SAB 121.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), and Shri Thanedar (D-MI) changed their votes to yes, favoring repealing SAB 121.
Republican Drew Ferguson (R-GA) corrected his July moodand change it from no to yes.
In May, the House voted in favor of resolution 228 to 182, with 19 abstaining. The Senate voted in favor 60 to 38, with two abstaining.
Lawmakers and industry are responding
Rep. Mike Flood, who originally introduced the resolution, commented on the failed vote. He said:
“I will continue to pursue other avenues to end SAB 121 so we can get the government out of the way as we grow our digital financial future.”
In front of the house, Flood called SAB 121 “not a political issue… [but] just bad regulation” that prevents banks from being involved in the custody of digital assets, adding that the SEC has exceeded its authority in defining custody policies for banks.
Patrick McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, condemned Biden’s veto, saying the administration would “rather play politics and side with power-hungry bureaucrats over the American people” than allow the resolution to pass.
The Blockchain Association also said it plans to “cease and desist.” [the] ill-conceived SEC rule” and plans to explore options in Congress and the courts to lift SAB 121’s restrictions.
The American Banking Association reiterated that SAB 121 requires banks to hold customer cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets, which “effectively prevents banks from offering digital asset custody on a large scale” and limits banks’ adoption of digital assets. Bitcoin ETFs and Tokenization. It expressed support for destroying SAB 121.
