As I have mentioned before being a Congressional staffer is a unique experience, to say the least. If you were to ask me at any point in time if I loved it odds are 50% of the time I would tell you it was fantastic and the other 50% I would tell you to run away and that I had made a terrible mistake. Out of everything I have done in life it leads the way in the love/hate relationship. As stressful as it can get, though I am not sure I would change it for anything else, as the action and learning never stops. Even though the action never stops there is a wide span of reasons that any significant crypto legislation will just flat-out not happen so below discuss just a few of those reasons.

Legislation Takes Time

As simple as it sounds creating legislation takes a lot more time than people seem to think. Even the worst pieces of legislation have to go through several different layers/levels or people/processes before it can be voted upon. The legislation that is often "fast-tracked" or comes together quickly is has something that crypto legislation will not have and that is underlying laws and regulations. 

When things like the CHIPS and Science Act come together suddenly is two-fold. One is that these pieces of legislation have been long debated and revised behind closed doors but the other is that there is underlying legislation that is being built upon or altered. Crypto lacks this and even if legislation was just to move regulation to the SEC or CFTC it is much more complex than that because the current legislation is structured in the traditional way and to update this causes a cascade of changes. 

Process

When a bill is introduced in the House it is referred to a committee and until this Congress, there was a specific way that legislation moved. While a lot of the norms and rules are being bent/broken right now that is not how it typically works and even in the current situation, there is still too much that would have to be overcome. Once referred to a committee or multiple these committees will create reports about the bill, listen to feedback from industry, and more often than not have at least one hearing on the topic. Even if this was the only thing before a committee and all resources are devoted to it there is still a vote that has to be held which has to be announced a week in advance called a Markup. Assuming it passes this it will head to the House floor where the Speaker can move it to the front of the voting line. 

Occasionally legislation will hit a bit of a snag in that the Rules Committee and that just adds another stop along the way consuming more time. Once it gets these stamps of approval and passes the House it often has to go through the entire process again in the Senate. The Senate though is designed to move even slower though and that is one of the reasons why Senators serve 6-year terms instead of 2-year terms in the House. What the Senate passes has to be identical to what the House passed otherwise a whole new issue is brought up to try and find a compromise which with the CHIPS and Science Act lasted approximately 9 months. 

Lawmakers

Even though most Members are rational and intelligent people there are some things that they do not budge from. One of those is more often than not they want to understand what they are voting on to at least some extent and often ask questions about the vote. It is not because of their egos necessarily but because at the end of the day it is their necks on the line as voters will hold them responsible if the legislation fails to protect or help them. At the same time, there are those Members who also have egos that have to be attended to or are just adamantly opposed to something which means that the legislation has to pass without their support. Questions need answers and often the Members or their staff come to the given Committee for answers and so it can take additional time to gather those answers. 

Final Thoughts

Now, these are not all of the reasons but are the first ones that come to mind when people ask me about the situation. Some might criticize the speed but at the end of the day if this is all rushed loopholes, errors, and just general poor planned legislation occurs. Even with a ton of time and all the steps taken some crappy legislation still will seep out. Good legislation takes time and bipartisan support something that is slowly but surely happening again it just takes time. 

Please know I am not a financial advisor and make sure you do your own research! If you enjoyed this article and would like to support me further below are a few referral links that if you used when signing up I would appreciate it! Also, follow me on Twitter @Cje95_

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