The U.S. Senate's Agriculture Committee is holding its first markup hearing on crypto market structure legislation, giving lawmakers a chance to debate and vote on amendments and possibly advance the actual legislation.

ND (11:30 a.m. ET): After less than an hour of debate and just a handful of amendments, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance its market structure legislation to the full Senate on a party-line vote (12 lawmakers voted for it, 11 against). All eyes are now back on the Senate Banking Committee, which postponed its own markup hearing earlier this month and has yet to set a new date.

ND (11:28 a.m. ET): Unmentioned so far in Thursday's hearing: The crypto markets themselves, which were down heavily between 4% and 7% over the past 24 hours of trading. Bitcoin hovered around $84,000 at press time.

JH (11:24 a.m. ET): We moved from Democrat amendments to a Republican one that's meant to block foreign adversaries of the U.S. from meddling in the U.S. crypto markets. Senator Tommy Tuberville pushed the amendment "about ensuring our digital markets are not compromised by our enemies."

But Tuberville agreed to withdraw his amendments with an understanding of "what we're trying to accomplish today," he said. So he asked that the ideas can come up again later.

ND (11:22a.m. ET): More from Booker earlier:

"What I and so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle see is that we are standing on the cusp of extraordinary humanity, changing breakthroughs that could give Americans a financial system that is faster, cheaper and more inclusive," he said. "I have seen in my own community that the system we have right now often screws customers, hurts their ability to access financial markets. There is a democratizing force, or at least potential that is moving across our country and across the world."

Senator Adam Schiff of California likewise commented that Democrats had a working group to support crypto legislation, likening crypto to artificial intelligence: "We want these jobs. We want this industry to stay in the United States, and that means that we need to have rules of the road where we're not essentially making decisions through litigation."

However, he expected that the bill will advance on party lines due to the partisan nature of the bill, he said.

JH (11:17 a.m. ET): The opening Democratic amendments went down, as expected, in party-line votes, including the standout issue meant to target President Donald Trump's crypto business interests.

It's been a cordial disagreement so far today, with Democrats gently accusing that Republicans abandoned negotiations and Republicans gently suggesting that disagreements can be resolved later.

ND (11:14 a.m. ET): The second amendment offered, this time by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, would prohibit the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department from "providing digital commodity intermediaries with a taxpayer-funded bailout" in the event of banking failures, pointing to Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank.

Boozman said that "nothing in the bill would grant the CFTC authority" to provide bankruptcy assistance, calling the amendment "unnecessary."

The amendment failed 11-12 on party lines.

ND (11:08 a.m. ET): The first amendment, offered by Senator Michael Bennett, a Colorado Democrat, addressed Democrats' concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's profiting off of his family's various crypto interests and businesses.

"I think this issue strikes at the core of our democracy," Bennett said. "This amendment is not about crypto or even particularly about President Trump. It's about returning to a system of government and ethics that that we thought the American people deserved."

Boozman said he was opposed to the amendment as it reached "way beyond" the Agriculture Committee's jurisdiction.

The amendment failed 11-12 on party line votes.

ND (10:56 a.m. ET): The Thursday hearing will see lawmakers offer up amendments on the underlying text, which the committee published last week. While the Senators were working on bipartisan legislation, Committee Chairman John Boozman said in a statement last week that "fundamental differences in policy" remained and the members of the committee had not come to an agreement on the text that was published.

Senator Cory Booker, the Democrat leading negotiations on the bill, said in opening remarks that lawmakers were close to an agreement on key issues, pointing to U.S. President Donald Trump and his family's crypto ties as one outstanding area of concern, as well as the lack of a firm agreement on quorum at federal agencies.

"In football parlance, we moved from our own goal line all the way down 70 yards. We're almost in the red zone on this bill, and that frustrates me, because I see a bipartisan glide path to land this plane, to punch through the end zone," Booker said.

Boozman, in his own opening remarks, said lawmakers had made "really significant progress" in putting the bill together.

"Advancing this bill is the first step, and there are many steps to come in achieving those goals," he said. "I also encourage that the administration and Senate leadership to coordinate and ensure that the CFTC is fully constituted and adequately funded."