Key Highlights
- Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said the first procedural vote on the CLARITY Act is set for September 15.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune left the bill off the August agenda as lawmakers departed for recess.
- Negotiations over ethics provisions and other technical issues are continuing during the recess.
The CLARITY Act is heading into September without a Senate vote, but Coinbase says lawmakers now have a firm date for the first procedural step as negotiations continue over the legislation’s most contentious provisions.
In a Fox Business interview on Monday, Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said that the Senate is expected to hold its first procedural vote on September 15, giving negotiators several weeks to resolve remaining disagreements. He said, “What we’ve got now is something really special, which is a date certain and a time certain when we’ll have our first procedural vote, and that’s on September 15th.”
Shirzad said the date gives lawmakers additional time to continue working through the provisions that remain unresolved.
Senate left without voting in August
The September timeline follows weeks of negotiations that failed to produce an agreement before the Senate recess. Thune did not bring the CLARITY Act forward for a vote before lawmakers left Washington, leaving unresolved provisions for continued negotiations.
Shirzad said the discussions did not stop once it became clear that the legislation would not advance before the recess. He said, “Even when it became clear that the bill wasn’t going to come up before the recess, Democrats were still at the table. There are still discussions going on.”
He also said some progress had been made on technical elements of the legislation.
Ethics provisions remain a key issue
One of the main areas under discussion is the bill’s ethics language. The negotiations include provisions concerning conflicts of interest, public officials and digital assets, along with other issues involving enforcement and illicit finance.
The White House has also been involved in discussions over the ethics proposal as lawmakers work on language that could attract broader bipartisan support. The disagreement over ethics provisions was among the issues that prevented the bill from moving before the August recess.
Although the Senate is out of session, Shirzad said negotiations are continuing between lawmakers and their staff. He said Coinbase has received outreach from both Republicans and Democrats regarding individual provisions that could be addressed before the Senate returns. He did not say that an agreement had already been reached, and several provisions remain under discussion.
Lummis says CLARITY Act will get a vote
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a leading Republican supporter of the legislation, has also said the CLARITY Act will eventually come before the Senate. She said, “We’re going to vote on it, so it can’t die by no votes.”
Lummis has argued that the United States needs a clear regulatory framework for digital assets and that lawmakers should establish rules that allow the industry to operate domestically. Her comments come as Republicans and Democrats continue negotiating over the bill’s remaining provisions.
House support offers a bipartisan reference point
Shirzad also pointed to the bipartisan support received by the House version of the CLARITY Act. He said, “Remember, it came over from the House with 80 Democrats having supported the House version.”
However, the Senate negotiations have introduced additional disagreements over provisions that were not resolved during the House process.
Shirzad said lawmakers still have work to do before the September vote. He said, “I think there’ll be some incremental work between now and the vote, and I’m very hopeful we’ll get there.”
CLARITY Act enters September with talks still underway
The CLARITY Act enters September with a procedural vote on the calendar, but without a final agreement on all of its outstanding provisions.
The Senate’s August recess has paused floor activity, while negotiations over ethics, enforcement, illicit finance and other technical issues continue outside the chamber.
For now, September 15 is the next scheduled step cited by Coinbase, while the outcome of the ongoing negotiations will determine whether the bill advances and what version reaches the Senate floor.
Also Read: Amid Bank CLARITY Act Pushback, Lummis & Moreno Back Credit Card Bill
