Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said Democrats are blocking progress on the long-awaited Clarity Act, arguing the Senate crypto bill could have cleared months ago.
Speaking Thursday on the Crypto in America podcast, Lummis said the measure is still on track for possible Senate action before Congress leaves for the August recess. Lawmakers are trying to move the bill before that break.
Lummis says a Senate vote could still happen before the August recess
Although the bill was drafted on a bipartisan basis, some Democrats remain unhappy with the current version. In remarks highlighted by Bitcoin Magazine on July 30, Lummis said the Senate still has room on the calendar for the legislation.
"Sen. Thune has kept a place for the CLARITY ACT on the agenda before the August recess and I believe he does intend to go through with it. We will be moving forward," she said.
Lummis added that the biggest obstacle is that Democrats, despite having 11 months to work intensely on the bill, still will not commit to voting for it. She described that as the central challenge now facing the legislation.
Draft grew from about 300 pages to nearly 700 pages
Lummis said the Clarity Act was about 300 pages when work with Democrats began around Labor Day last year. She said the bill is now getting close to 700 pages and that most of the added pages were included at Democrats' request.
She also criticized what she described as repeated back-and-forth over the text, saying the process had swung between changing provisions, changing them back, and debating whether to use the House version or the Senate version. She said last-minute revisions were being brought forward even though, in her view, they could have been introduced weeks earlier, or even months earlier.
Some Democrats say the current version still falls short
Bitcoin Magazine reported that major financial institutions, lawmakers and companies have backed the bill. Even so, a group of Democrats said in a statement last week that the legislation in its current form falls short.
Lummis said Congress has a crowded schedule before the August recess, but maintained there is still a chance the bill can secure a slot for a vote.
Bill has been deadlocked for much of 2026
The Clarity Act passed the House of Representatives last year with strong bipartisan support, but it has remained in deadlock through much of 2026. The report said part of that gridlock stemmed from concerns raised by the banking lobby over stablecoin yield.
An updated version of the bill introduced last week addressed ethics concerns by banning government officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
Republicans are trying to secure bipartisan support this week to advance the legislation. If passed, the bill would create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market.
Lummis has been one of Capitol Hill's strongest crypto advocates
Bitcoin Magazine described Lummis, a Trump ally, as one of the most pro-crypto senators on Capitol Hill, a stance that earned her the nickname "Bitcoin Senator."
She helped draft the Bitcoin Act, which calls for a Bitcoin strategic reserve, and co-sponsored the 2025 GENIUS Act on stablecoin regulation.
This report was first published by Bitcoin Magazine and written by Mathew Di Salvo.