- Key insight: The CLARITY Act needs 60 votes to invoke cloture with just days left before the Senate's August recess.
- What's at stake: Bankers want a stricter ban on stablecoin yield products, while crypto firms want fewer restrictions.
- Forward look: Whether yield language gets a vote may depend on how narrow the margin is on the procedural motion to proceed.
WASHINGTON — Bank-favored changes to a much-anticipated crypto market structure bill still have a slim chance of making their way into the final legislation, as the Senate considers whether to bring the bill to the floor.
The CLARITY Act, after a
The package will need more than a few Democratic votes in the Senate to reach the needed 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture and bring the bill to the floor. Without a cloture vote, opponents can filibuster the bill indefinitely.
But for banks, the biggest point of contention is a section that bans stablecoin companies from offering yield-like products that bankers fear will
"This is still a very contentious, very live issue, and I don't know where it goes from here," said Todd Phillips, a director at the Klaros Group.
Republicans largely haven't had to go on the record about their views on the yield issue. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C.,
Several Republicans, though, might be sympathetic enough to bankers' complaints to want to have a vote on it. Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and James Lankford, R-Okla., are particularly interested in the issue, two people familiar with lawmakers' thinking said.
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At this point, banks' preferred language could be added in an amendment process. The Senate could consider a vote on a procedural motion as early as Monday of next week, which could be an opportunity for some lawmakers to force a vote on the yield issue, if they are sufficiently motivated.
"A lot of the answer to the question on whether or not you can force a vote on yield relates to how strong the vote to proceed is," said Aaron Klein, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Suppose the vote is tight, and there are two Republican senators who support the bill, but are adamant in demanding a vote on yield. They can threaten to not let the bill go through without it."
But if the vote to proceed passes by a larger margin, then it's easier to roll the lawmakers who want a vote on yield, he said.
Once the Senate has invoked cloture on the actual bill, all "non-germane" amendments are eliminated. What counts as germane and what doesn't is decided by the Senate parliamentarian, and those rulings can be difficult to predict.
All amendments that are germane post-cloture are guaranteed a vote by the end of 30 hours of debate.
"Cloture says we have 30 hours to debate the bill, so you can agree and knock off your germane amendments in that 30 hours," Klein said. "Anything that's not been dealt with in that 30 hours is lined up for a vote-a-rama at the end, and then you proceed to the bill as amended."
