While the US Congress remains in recess until September, one of the senators leading the charge behind legislation to establish a digital asset market structure said he expects bipartisan support.
Speaking from the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole on Tuesday, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said he expected at least some Democrats to join with Republicans to move forward on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act following the passage of the Guiding and Empowering Nation’s Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
The South Carolina senator said that he had already been making efforts to reach out to Democrats outside of the banking committee to “provide cover” to vote for the bill.
“We had 18 Democrats vote for the GENIUS Act,” said Scott. “I believe that we’ll have between 12 and 18 Democrats at least open to voting for market structure, a far more complicated piece of legislation, and the forces against it […] it is a real force to overcome.”
Before the House passed the CLARITY Act on July 17, Scott said the banking committee planned to pass its version of digital asset market structure “before the end of September.”
A draft version of the Senate bill, released in July and tentatively titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, “builds on” the CLARITY Act, according to Republican leadership, but may be different from the House legislation.
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Realistic expectations for bipartisan support?
Republicans hold a three-seat majority in the Senate, making it likely they will need some Democrats to pass legislation for crypto market structure. In addition to Scott’s remarks from Wyoming, Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the banking committee, commented on the CLARITY Act during the congressional recess.
“We need crypto regulation,” said Warren in an Aug. 10 interview. “But we don’t need regulation written by the crypto industry… We need regulation that limits the corruption and the ability of elected officials to trade in it, that also limits the ability to blow up the economy with crypto.”
More than 70 Democrats in the House of Representatives sided with Republicans to pass the CLARITY Act in July, suggesting that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate may consider supporting the bill. The chamber is scheduled to end its recess on Sept. 2.
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