The unified version of the Clarity Act — which is said by one person to have had more than 70 pages of text added — hasn’t yet solidified a position on the major sticking point: A Democrat-demanded restriction keeping senior government officials (including the president) from maintaining business ties with the crypto sector. Without a compromise on such ethics limits, several lawmakers have said they won’t vote yes on a final bill.
The merged text that may be released next week will not represent a simple combination of the two bills the respective committees voted to approve earlier this year. Both committees’ members negotiated on outstanding issues — the Agriculture Committee more so, given that bill was voted out of committee on strictly partisan lines — and the updated bill is said to reflect the results of that process, putting more emphasis on consumer protections.
The bill’s advocates expect it to reach the Senate floor as soon as the week of July 20, though the lawmakers have a lot of work left.
Beyond ethics, outstanding issues include federal preemption, and negotiators still need to come to a final agreement on filling the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Earlier Thursday, the White House sent a letter to Senators John Thune and Chuck Schumer, respectively the majority and minority heads in the Senate, saying Democrats had not put forward any names for the minority roles on these commissions.
