The House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 on Wednesday to advance legislation that would write President Donald Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into federal law.

The panel reported the American Reserve Modernization Act, H.R. 8957, favorably along strict party lines: all 28 votes in favor came from Republicans, while every one of the 21 opposing votes came from Democrats. An amendment from ranking member Maxine Waters (D-CA) failed on the same 21-28 divide. A favorable committee report is the procedural step that tees up consideration by the full chamber.

If enacted, the bill would give the Treasury Department 180 days to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve alongside a separate Digital Asset Stockpile, and would require every federal agency to account for its holdings within 60 days.

Committee chairman French Hill (R-AR) called the legislation "a common-sense measure that brings digital assets held across federal agencies under Treasury custody and consistent oversight."

Once Bitcoin is deposited into the reserve, it could not be "sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose" for 20 years.

A narrower text

The version that cleared committee is narrower than the bill Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) introduced in May. Members adopted a substitute from Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) by voice vote, stripping out the most ambitious funding mechanisms.

The original draft directed a study of acquiring more Bitcoin using "discretionary surplus remittances from Federal Reserve Banks or revaluation of gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve Banks," along with tariff revenue and gifts. Steil's substitute removes all of those options, leaving only asset swaps, forfeitures and cooperative programs with states. The bill's long title, which had pledged to "offset costs utilizing certain resources of the Federal Reserve System," was rewritten to drop the phrase.

Other provisions were scaled back. Proof-of-reserve reporting would shift from quarterly to annual, and an explicit requirement to publish the reports on the Treasury's website has been dropped. Forked and airdropped assets would need to be held for one year rather than five. Proceeds from selling stockpile assets—originally earmarked for buying more Bitcoin or reducing the debt—would first cover management costs.

One provision widened. "Qualifying Bitcoin" is no longer limited to coins seized through forfeiture; it now covers all Bitcoin the federal government owns.

The bill still authorizes no purchases. It directs Treasury and Commerce to study, within 180 days, whether acquiring more Bitcoin could be done without cost to taxpayers. Nothing in that section permits "any borrowing or other financing, including the pledging, encumbering, or use of any digital asset or other asset of the United States as collateral." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has separately ruled out agency purchases.

Waters' amendment would have barred the president, vice president, members of Congress and their spouses, children and children-in-law from holding a controlling stake in any digital asset, serving as an officer or owner of an issuer, or taking "direct or indirect compensation, including fees, for the sale, marketing, or mining" of one.

Trump created the reserve by executive order in March 2025. Because an executive order can be rescinded by a later administration, codifying the reserve in statute would place it on footing that only an act of Congress could undo. The bill must still clear the full House, and no companion measure has passed the Senate; to become law, it would need to pass both chambers in identical form before reaching the president's desk.