From Washington: Lessons Learned From The 2022 Midterms

This week marked significant changes for Senate Democrats. On Tuesday, incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock won re-election in Georgia, giving Democrats a larger Senate majority with 51 seats. Meanwhile, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced she would be leaving the Democratic party and registering as an Independent. The news will not change the Senate makeup as she does not intend to caucus with Republicans. Managing Editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball, University of Virginia Center for Politics, Kyle Kondik shares why Georgia’s Senate race was so significant, what the Democrats’ expanded majority means for the next two years, and whether or not it will impact the likelihood of major legislative accomplishments.

The Head of the Commodity Future Tradings Commission Rostin Behnam told Senators at the Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing he has no direct authority to regulate cash digital commodity markets, which is arguably the reason that cryptocurrency company FTX collapsed last month. Senators have taken it upon themselves to propose the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act, in hopes to fix this absence of regulation. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) details the content of her bill, states that she believes there will be major consequences for principles at FTX as well as Sam Bankman-Fried, and agrees that this collapse could have been avoided.