The "Clarity Act" is postponed by one week. The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release the text on January 21, and a key hearing will be held on January 27.

On January 14, the Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release the draft text of its proposed Crypto Market Structure Act (the “Clarity Act”) on January 21, and hold a key hearing on the text on January 27. The committee announced on Tuesday that the hearing will begin at 3 p.m. (originally scheduled for January 15 and postponed on Monday). The review hearing is a crucial step in advancing legislation, where lawmakers will debate amendments, vote on whether to incorporate them into the core text, and then decide whether to submit the full bill to the Senate for a vote. The Senate Banking Committee also plans to review its version of the bill this Thursday. Although the draft of the Banking Committee’s version was released late Monday night, lawmakers are expected to submit amendments before the hearing. Since the initial discussion draft was published, the Agriculture Committee has not yet released an official text. Unresolved issues include ethical clauses (related to President Trump and his family’s connections to various crypto businesses) and quorum rules—requiring regulatory agencies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to be led by bipartisan members (currently, these agencies only have Republican members). According to two individuals closely monitoring the bill, the Banking Committee’s text also does not include provisions on ethical clauses or quorum rules, so the current version may not garner bipartisan support.