White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt responded to Thune’s remarks in an interview with CoinDesk on Thursday, arguing that the first week of August should still be open for potential Senate action. Witt said he was “confused” by Thune’s sentiments and is “a little more optimistic,” though he agreed the bill likely won’t get a final vote in July.
“There is the first week of August that the Senate is in session,” Witt said in the interview with CoinDesk TV. “So I wouldn’t figure it out.”
The midterm congressional elections are in November, and lawmakers are expected to use their summer break to campaign. The House and Senate will return for about three weeks in September, and if the Senate succeeds in passing Clarity, the House will still have to follow suit.
Clarity — even more so than last year’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act — is the crypto industry’s top priority in crypto policy, with the hope that it will finally secure a permanent legal basis for US crypto activity.
The Senate floor process is a multi-stage affair that can take a few days or even longer to advance legislation past the 60-vote threshold needed in that chamber. At this stage, it is hardly guaranteed that the crypto bill will even muster a majority, as some Republican senators have also raised concerns with its treatment of stablecoin dividends and the language of the government ethics provision.
