The unified version of the Clarity Act, which one person says has had more than 70 pages of text added, has yet to solidify a position on the main sticking point: a Democrat-mandated restriction that prevents top government officials (including the president) from maintaining business ties with the crypto sector. Without a compromise on such ethical limits, several lawmakers have said they will not vote in favor of a final bill.
The merged text that could be released next week will not represent a simple combination of the two bills that the respective committees voted to approve earlier this year. Members of both committees negotiated outstanding issues (the Agriculture Committee more so, since the bill was removed from committee on strictly partisan lines) and the updated bill is said to reflect the results of that process, placing more emphasis on consumer protection.
Proponents of the bill hope it will reach the Senate floor as soon as the week of July 20, although lawmakers still have a lot of work to do.
Beyond ethics, outstanding issues include federal preemption, and negotiators have yet to reach a final agreement on how to fill out the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Earlier Thursday, the White House sent a letter to Sens. John Thune and Chuck Schumer, respectively the Senate majority and minority whips, saying that Democrats had not proposed any names for minority roles on these committees.
