Summary
- Senator Ruben Gallego said rushing a vote on the CLARITY Act could set the legislation back.
- Gallego said the crypto industry should encourage bipartisan negotiations rather than push for an immediate vote, citing the Senate's 60-vote threshold and remaining procedural steps.
- President Donald Trump met with crypto industry executives and urged Congress to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act.
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Senator Ruben Gallego warned that rushing a vote on the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill, could set the legislation back rather than move it forward.
Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 20 that Gallego made the remarks at the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Wyoming. "A quick vote gets you a quick result, but I don't know if that's the result you want," he said. "Moving too fast is going to push the bill further back."
Gallego said he was worried a procedural vote could come before the Senate forms the bipartisan coalition needed to meet the 60-vote threshold. He said several steps remain, including handling provisions under the Agriculture Committee's jurisdiction, assembling the bill package and deciding how to send it to the House. He also urged the crypto industry to support continued negotiations between Democrats and Republicans instead of pressing for an immediate vote.
He also criticized the White House for a lack of communication. Gallego said he and Republican Senator Thom Tillis submitted a compromise on ethics provisions before Congress recessed, but received no specific response. "We kept sending proposals to the White House, and what came back were empty responses, or language that actually moved backward, or no response at all," he said. Cointelegraph said it had asked the White House for comment but had not received a response before publication.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, met with crypto industry executives at the White House the same day and urged Congress to pass what he called a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Cointelegraph on Aug. 7 that the vote would be delayed until September and taken up first after lawmakers return from recess.
