Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has again attacked the Democrats for holding back the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act.
Speaking on the Crypto in America podcast Thursday, Lummis said that the bill could have been passed months ago but is unfairly being held back.
Lawmakers are hoping the Clarity Act gets passed before Congress departs for August recess. While the bill has been drafted bipartisanly, some Democrats are unhappy with the current version.
“The biggest obstacle is that the Democrats, in spite of having 11 months to work on this bill intensely, which we have done, still won’t commit to voting for it, and that that is the bigger challenge,” Lummis said.
“When we started working with [the Democrats] last Labor Day, the Clarity Act was about 300 pages — it’s getting closer to 700 pages. Most of those new pages were added at the requests of Democrats.”
She added: “This messing around, this pussyfooting around with, I want to change this, no, I want to change it back, I like the House version, no, let’s go with the Senate version, and then bringing last minute changes to this bill that could have been brought weeks ago — in fact, months ago — is absurd, and I’m just tired of being played.”
Major financial institutions, lawmakers and companies have thrown their weight behind the new bill, but a group of Democrats last week said in a statement that the bill in its current form falls short.
Still, Lummis added that while lawmakers had a lot to vote on before the August recess, there was still a chance the bill could fit into a slot.
Despite being passed in the house of representatives last year with strong bipartisan support, the Clarity Act has been in a deadlock for much of 2026, partially the banking lobby raised concerns over stablecoin yield.
An updated bill of the Clarity Act was introduced last week that addressed ethics concerns — banning government officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
Republicans are hoping to gain bipartisan support for the bill this week to advance the legislation. If passed, the long-awaited bill would create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market.
Trump ally Lummis is one of the most pro-crypto senators on Capitol Hill, even earning the name “Bitcoin Senator.”
The Republican helped draft the Bitcoin Act for a Bitcoin strategic reserve, and co-sponsored the 2025’s GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins.