New CLARITY Act Draft Could Land Next Week as Senate Faces 60-Vote Test

Lawmakers may unveil a merged version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act next week, with Senate floor action potentially targeted for July 20. The new draft would fuse versions produced by the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees into a single text, adding more than 70 pages and placing heavier emphasis on consumer protections than earlier drafts.

The bill faces a critical 60-vote threshold in the Senate, and two Democrats who voted to advance the Banking Committee’s version have warned they may not approve a final bill unless ethics provisions are addressed. The biggest unresolved issue is a Democrat-demanded restriction that would keep senior government officials, including the president, from maintaining business ties with the crypto sector. The merged text has not yet solidified a position on that provision, and ideas under discussion include allowing state attorneys general to sue over ethics violations.

The White House has not signed off on the merged text or engaged in recent negotiations, and a White House letter noted that Democrats had not nominated candidates for minority seats at the SEC and CFTC. People familiar with the negotiations said the effort had “slowed to a crawl” in recent weeks. Federal preemption of state rules also remains unsettled.

With only three working weeks in July and the first week of August before the summer recess, the period from July 13 to August 7 is seen as a decisive window for the industry’s best chance at federal market-structure rules. Senate Republican leaders, including Banking Chair Tim Scott and Majority Leader John Thune, have been coordinating a push for a July vote. Senator Cynthia Lummis, the Wyoming Republican championing the bill, has described it as a “consumer-friendly disclosure framework for digital assets” built for 2026 and beyond.

Even if the Senate clears the bill, the House of Representatives must approve the Senate’s version before it can reach the president’s desk. The House has been slowed by Republican infighting, and missing the August recess could push the effort into 2027.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/clarity-act-new-draft-senate-60-vote-test/