AFT urges the Senate to abandon the crypto bill due to concerns over risks to pension funds

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has sent a letter urging Senate leaders to reject the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, warning that the bill would weaken investor protections and put workers’ retirement funds at risk.

AFT stated that the bill could eliminate standards currently applied to traditional securities, allowing tokenized stocks to be traded without the need for registration or regulatory reporting. The letter from President Randi Weingarten emphasized that the bill “strips away the few remaining protections” for digital assets and exposes working families to unnecessary economic risk.

The warning comes as negotiations over the crypto market framework bill in the Senate become more tense, with divisions among industry groups and signs that the bill’s prospects are waning. Some Democratic senators, including Cory Booker, have said that the chances of passage are fading after the Supreme Court may allow President Trump to fire SEC and CFTC commissioners at will—an issue that could make it harder for the bill to rely on the two agencies.

While lawmakers continue negotiations, many industry organizations are also showing divisions over how to regulate DeFi, oversight of P2P transactions, and what concessions are acceptable to pass the bill. Some parties have even claimed they would rather have no bill at all than accept terms they consider unacceptable.

The Responsible Financial Innovation Act is currently the main proposal in the Senate to define the jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC, while establishing a federal framework for exchanges, brokers, custodians, and token issuers. However, given the legal risks and political volatility, the bill’s future remains uncertain.