Clarity Act Squeezed by Senate's Crowded To-Do List Now

At some point, the progress of the crypto sector's top policy priority — the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — becomes an insurmountable math problem, with not enough time left in the U.S. Senate's work calendar to allow for passage. The bill has now been formally offered for the Senate calendar, and the industry's lobbyists are still angling for a last-moment win.

There are about eight weeks of floor time available in the Senate before lawmakers scatter for the summer break and the political demands of the midterm congressional elections. As the election season grows more urgent, the appetite for legislative cooperation could take a hit.

In that brief work window in Congress' upper chamber, the Clarity Act would need to clear several procedural steps that can only begin once the market structure bill is finalized — a goal that still requires some big-ticket disputes to be ironed out between the political parties and the White House.

The Clarity Act would establish a tailored regulatory regime for crypto in the U.S. — an idea that carries significant bipartisan support. But even if the bill were ready for action, a long list of Senate business items is competing for time and attention. And some of them haven't been going well.

A deadline looms this month for extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and getting a long-term deal on U.S. spy powers has been a challenge, including over the insertion of a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Senate leadership had warned that the CBDC component could kill the effort in that chamber, and an impasse set in between the House of Representatives and Senate that is still being resolved. The latest version of the bill reportedly includes a temporary ban that ends in three years.

Even more fireworks erupted from the process to approve an immigration-enforcement funding bill. The spending plan was derailed by an internal outcry from Republicans opposing President Donald Trump's $1.8 billion Department of Justice "anti-weaponization" fund to compensate allies. A court ordered the plan halted during the dispute over its legality, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly gave in to the pressure on Tuesday to assure lawmakers that the idea is dead — a move expected to re-open the path for the immigration bill.

Must-pass bills. Those two bills — FISA and immigration — must pass in order for aspects of the federal government to continue functioning, giving them priority over other work. Crypto lobbyists are expressing quiet confidence that they'll be resolved soon. But once they're approved, that doesn't necessarily mean smooth sailing for the crypto bill, which was formally forwarded to the Senate calendar this week.

Adding some potential drama has been President Trump's insistence that one of the legislative efforts — FISA or a bill overhauling U.S. housing regulations — be saddled with his effort to impose voter identification and proof of citizenship at the polls before the congressional midterm elections, which he has said will lead to his impeachment if Democrats win. Tacking that controversial bill onto another would sharply decrease the odds of its host bill's passage, but Trump has previously threatened to halt congressional progress on other matters if lawmakers don't make it happen.

That housing bill he's eyeing may be among the Clarity Act's biggest competitors for floor time. The bipartisan legislation to encourage U.S. home building (while also restricting certain institutional investors) has been shuttled