The U.S. Senate plans to vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Tuesday. Before the bill vote, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the Republican Party’s leading negotiators, said that although Republicans had released what they called the final compromise text over the weekend, Democrats had still not stopped making new amendment demands.
Lummis said at an event in Washington on Monday that Democratic lawmakers wanted more concessions. She pointed out that even if negotiations were extended for another month, Democrats might continue to put forward new demands, lamenting that the process seemed to have no end.
At a Washington summit hosted by the Solana Policy Institute, Lummis discussed the provisions concerning legal protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers in the latest draft of the bill, and reviewed the negotiation process surrounding the significant personal concessions made on this issue.
Although she expressed recognition of Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Lummis pointed out that Republicans had already made several important compromises to Democrats during the negotiations. She said that there were 114 provisions in the bill involving Democratic policy demands.
One key concession involved politically consequential content in the Clarity Act, namely restricting the ability of government officials to maintain personal business ties with the digital asset industry. This provision primarily targets former President Donald Trump.
Lummis said that she was very surprised when Trump once again made concessions regarding the ethical restrictions facing himself and other government officials and included the relevant content in the draft released this week.
She pointed out that Democrats wanted more conditions, and what particularly surprised her was that the president had already agreed to make further concessions.
Whether the CLARITY Act Can Secure 60 Votes Remains in Doubt
Lummis did not appear certain that the bill could obtain at least 60 votes in favor on Tuesday and successfully advance through the Senate process.
At Monday’s industry event, lobbyists discussed the possibility of the Clarity Act ultimately passing. Even relatively optimistic views described it only as a limited possibility.
As Democratic lawmakers began focusing on discussions of the latest version of the bill, people at the event were closely watching the discussions, hoping to find clues about the voting outcome.
Lummis said that after arriving in Washington from her ranch in Wyoming, she immediately asked her accompanying staff about the progress of the negotiations, and subsequently learned that Democrats were still demanding further revisions to the bill’s text.
She believes that the current version is the best result that can be achieved and called on Democratic lawmakers to support the legislation. Lummis also said that continuing to advance the negotiations had already consumed a great deal of her energy.