Crypto Advocate Rep. McHenry Says He Won't Seek Reelection

Congressman Patrick mchenry, who is arguably one of cryptos most important advocates in Congress and for a hot minute, ran the country has decided not to seek another term. Joining us. Now to discuss is Coin Desk, global policy and regulation. Managing editor Nick Day who is also the editor of Coin Desk State of crypto newsletter. Remember it's holiday season, subscribe for you, your family, your neighbors, your friends and even some of your enemies. Welcome, Nick. Happy, what is it Wednesday? Happy Wednesday. Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Thank you. All right, Patrick mchenry. He, he posted on X yesterday. I should say he po you know, for, for you nineties kids, it's not what it sounds like he posted on x.com yesterday and it's clear that he has decided not to seek re election. I I'm not on that platform anymore. What did he say? Yeah. So Congressman mchenry uh put out a statement um as you say, he shared it on uh X formerly known as Twitter. Uh basically saying that um you know, his words, every season has an end and he believes it is uh the end of his season as a Congressman. He's not leaving immediately. He will stick out the rest of his term but he will not be running for re-election. Uh, the congressman has been a member of the House for, you know, some 20 odd years. He's been, uh, you know, he's the current leader, the chair of the House Manage Services Committee and, uh, is probably one of the crypto industry leading advocates in Congress at the moment. So, uh, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens next. Yeah. And as I alluded to earlier, he was uh he was running the house for a little bit when uh Kevin mccarthy was given the boot. Uh So this is sort of an, an interesting turn. I mean, this was a guy who had conceivably significant amount of power in it at a time when Congress is a raised within majority, we are now down to four votes separating Democrats from Republicans uh with the, with the exiting of George Santos uh who is now on cameo. Uh So what exactly uh do we know what drove him to say here? Here I am at the pinnacle of my, my powers. Uh potentially having a lot of influence. God knows what can happen to Speaker Johnson any minute now. With the way this Congress runs, why would he take a, why would he just decide to say, you know what I'm gonna pack it in? Uh And I'm not going for this re-election in uh November 2024. So I haven't heard back from his office yet but I have spoken to a number of people, uh, you know, yesterday after the news came out and the consensus seems to have been that he's been thinking about this for a while. This isn't out of nowhere as much as it might seem like it, to those of us who are on the outside. It does sound like he has been considering, uh, stepping down or not running for re election for a number of months now. And so, you know, well, I can't speculate as to what exactly the, you know, final, you know, trigger might have been. Certainly, it's been a pretty, as you mentioned, chaotic couple of months with, you know, the ousting of Kevin mccarthy. Uh You know, I'm sure we've all remembered that scene when uh Congressman Henry was first, you know, acting as speaker pro war where he hit the gavel so hard that it kind of became an instant classic for everyone. Um, you know, between the three weeks of, you know, presiding over that particular piece of chaos, the expulsion of, you know, Congressman George Santos and everything else that's going on. It sounds like, uh, you know, this was just time and he decided to have time. The first move was another issue. It's true. Nick, what happens to all the legislation he's been working on? Of course, we have the Stablecoin bill along with a few others, the oversight Bill, what happens to those now? So there is a bit of time, Congressman mchenry does have another year to try and get all of this done. Um Of course, the big complicating factor is next year is election year. And so at some point, you know, not super early on in the year, but at some point in the spring, we're going to see everyone pack up, leave town, go home and start campaigning or the theater campaigns for re election, uh which does give, uh, you know, Congress a pretty limited window. So, you know, last week we heard rumors and reports that Congress Henry was trying to get his market structure bill and the stable bill into a, into the annual, you know, defense bill. Uh trying to basically put them into a must pass bill that, you know, has to get voted on that will get voted on. Uh It's unclear if that's going to be successful. Um, you know, again, so far, everyone I've spoken to suggest it's not going to work out that way. So that gives Congressman Henry a couple more months to try and get those through Congress, you know, another way, uh whether that's just voting, you know, individually attaching it to an omnibus spending bill later on, you know, something, but he does have a limited window to try and get this done. On the other hand, he does have a fair amount of political capital. The other thing I heard yesterday from, you know, a number of people is he is seen as, you know, being widely respected on both sides of the aisle and as a retiring congressman with that kind of respect and with that kind of political capital, he does have, you know, quite a bit of he that he can bring to bear on this. We'll see if that's enough and you know what the actual process will look like.