Senate Agenda Skips CLARITY Act; Giancarlo Warns Industry

The Senate's published agenda for Monday contains no mention of the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote only on a spending bill, with the cloture calendar showing no filing related to H.R. 3633, the House-passed crypto market structure bill. The omission leaves the bill without a publicly scheduled path to the Senate floor as the August 10 recess approaches.

Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, who helped write the original framework, urged the industry not to treat the legislation as an all-or-nothing moment. He said blockchain innovation will continue regardless of the bill's fate.

"The world is going to go on," Giancarlo said. He supports the bill, which includes reauthorization of LabCFTC, the innovation hub he launched during his tenure. He also said every U.S. financial regulator should establish similar innovation centers to better understand emerging technologies.

Under Senate Rule XXII, leaders would need to file an ordinary cloture motion by Wednesday, August 5. That would allow a procedural vote as early as Friday, August 7. Even then, senators would only vote on ending debate over the motion to proceed, not on final passage. If cloture succeeds, the Senate could still spend up to 30 additional hours debating before formally taking up the legislation. Afterward, another cloture vote could be required before final approval.