U.S. Senate Republicans are rushing to bring the cryptocurrency market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act to the Senate floor.

Crypto In America, cited by blockchain outlet Coinpost on July 28, reported that Republican leaders plan to begin Senate floor consideration procedures as early as this week. But securing the 60 votes needed for final legislation remains the biggest hurdle.

The key is whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune (존 튠) will pursue the cloture process to start floor consideration. Under Senate rules, once a cloture motion is filed, a vote is usually held after 2 legislative days. If 60 votes are secured, the Senate can enter full consideration of the bill and then move to a vote on the legislation itself after up to 30 additional hours of debate.

For now, some expect reaching 60 votes is unlikely. Seven prominent Democratic senators are reported to have said the amendment made public last week is insufficient on ethics rules and the handling of decentralized finance. Republicans plan to try to rally supporting votes within this week.

Differences also remain within the Republican Party. Senator Thom Tillis (톰 틸리스) is leading bipartisan talks to find a compromise Democrats can accept, calling for stronger ethics rules than the White House and a Republican agreement. With the possibility of Senator Mitch McConnell's absence being discussed, there is a sense there is little room for defections. The positions of Senators Josh Hawley and Rand Paul are also still unclear.

In this situation, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), a U.S. police union-type group, said on July 24 it supports the amended CLARITY Act. In a separate letter, the group said the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), which excludes non-custodial software developers from money transmitter registration requirements, does not limit the ability to investigate and prosecute crypto-related crime. It also assessed law-enforcement-related provisions across the bill positively.

It is unclear whether that support will sway Democratic votes. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (캐서린 코르테스 매스토) and Mark Warner (마크 워너) are cited as figures who have presented maintaining law enforcement capabilities as a condition for their support.

Pushback at the state-government level is also continuing. New York Attorney General Letitia James (레티샤 제임스) warned on July 27 in written testimony submitted to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the CLARITY Act could weaken states' enforcement authority. James called on Congress to adopt stricter safeguards, including limits on the distribution of cryptocurrencies routed through mixing services and stronger regulation of public officials.

James pointed in particular to provisions that concentrate authority to oversee digital assets in the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and negate state regulation. She indicated that despite the amendment, concerns raised by Democrats about ethics provisions, DeFi regulation and the reduction of state authority have still not been resolved.

The timeline is also tight. With the Senate set to recess from Aug. 7, Republicans are considering ways to wrap up a vote around that time. If they secure the needed votes, a scenario is also being discussed in which senators stay in Washington for a few more days after the recess to try to process the bill.

Ultimately, the CLARITY Act's fate depends on whether Republicans can prevent internal defections while securing some Democratic votes. The floor schedule has not yet been set, but with the bill already on the Senate calendar, vote-counting and amendment talks over the coming days are expected to be a turning point for the legislation.