CLARITY Act Faces Senate Deadline After Missing Monday Schedule

• The CLARITY Act is not on the Senate agenda for Monday. 
• Leaders have to file cloture by Wednesday.
• Bipartisan support would quicken the process in the Senate.

The Senate released Monday’s schedule without including the CLARITY Act, pushing the cryptocurrency legislation into a critical week. The focus has moved away from the policy debate to the procedural aspect of the process amid efforts by supporters to beat the clock in the run-up to the August recess period of Congress. 

Monday’s posted schedule sees the senators returning to the chamber in the afternoon to deliberate on only the procedural vote on the continuing resolution. There is also no filing in the cloture calendar related to CLARITY Act or House Resolution 3633. That puts the supporters in a situation where they have no legislative process officially scheduled. Also, amid ongoing discussions on digital asset market structure legislation.

Procedure in the Senate Shapes the Immediate Fate of the Bill

The requirement for filing cloture in the senate is that it takes at least 16 signatures. In the case where Senate leadership files cloture by Wednesday, there can be a cloture procedure vote by Friday. This vote would close debate on the motion to proceed and not be a vote on the piece of legislation. 

Although the invocation of cloture may occur, the Senate rule provides for an additional 30 hours of debate prior to voting on the motion to proceed with the bill. There are faster options available to the Senate leadership as well. One option could be for Senate leadership to go for a bipartisan cloture petition or seek unanimous consent. Nevertheless, any one senator has the capability to block a unanimous consent agreement.

Uncertainty Still Prevails Regarding Political Backing

Despite procedural obstacles persisting, negotiations are still going on between Republicans and Democrats regarding the CLARITY Act. According to seven Democratic negotiators, despite the new draft being prepared, it still does not meet their approval, and they are to go on with the negotiations. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren is against the new draft of the law due to some provisions that have been included in it. It is reported that Majority Leader John Thune would take a procedural vote only if there was enough backing from Democratic senators for proceeding with the bill before the August recess.

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