Ban Trump from launching cryptocurrencies! U.S. Senate to vote on the Clarity Act as early as next week.

Trump has endorsed the ethics provisions in the bill—a development drawing significant attention. According to recently disclosed documents, Trump earned approximately $1.2 billion in crypto-related income during his first year back in the White House. The bill would be enforced by the Department of Justice, with violators facing fines of up to $250,000 per day. Senate Majority Leader John Thune stated that the Senate is expected to hold a vote on the bill within the coming weeks. Whether the bill can secure sufficient bipartisan support remains the biggest uncertainty. Passage in the Senate requires 60 votes, yet Democrats have voiced strong objections to the enforcement mechanism, arguing that entrusting regulatory authority to the Justice Department—under Trump’s leadership—is unreliable. Meanwhile, the banking industry has also expressed reservations about provisions in the bill concerning crypto rewards. This legislation marks a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency industry. On Tuesday, media reports indicated that the White House and Republican senators had reached agreement on the ethics provisions of the Clarity Act, prompting Coinbase to surge nearly 10% that day, while Circle and Bitcoin also strengthened. However, following today’s release of the specific text, the market rally failed to sustain: as of this writing, Coinbase was down 5% midday Wednesday, and Circle down 7%; among cryptocurrencies, BTC fell 1% and ETH declined 0.1% on Wednesday. Ethics Provisions Emerge as the Core Point of Contention The ethics oversight framework lies at the heart of current negotiations. According to the bill text obtained by CNBC, the latest draft includes a newly added provision explicitly prohibiting the President and federal officials from issuing or sponsoring any digital asset—an unprecedented legislative red line drawn against presidential involvement in cryptocurrency activities in U.S. history. Yet Democrats retain fundamental objections to the enforcement mechanism. Maryland Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks explicitly stated she would not support a plan that delegates cryptocurrency ethics oversight to the Justice Department under Trump’s leadership. She noted this week that Trump’s personal gains of over $10 billion in the crypto space last year make Democratic support for the bill politically untenable. Thune remains resolute. “Once the text is released, we need to figure out how many changes will get us to 60 votes,” he said. “Regardless, we must move forward with the vote.” In terms of timing, Thune indicated the Senate will vote on the bill “within the coming weeks”—a window that closes just before Congress’s August recess. This leaves negotiators with extremely limited time. Whether consensus can be reached on the enforcement mechanism for the ethics provisions will determine whether the bill advances successfully.

Chapter Three of 'The Presidency of Barack Obama': Neither Depression Nor New Deal: Bailouts, Stimulus, and the Economy

The economy dominated Barack Obama’s presidency from the very outset. By November 4, 2008—the day voters elected him as the forty-fourth president—a financial crisis had escalated to a scale comparable to the catastrophe of 1929–1933. Responding to this crisis became the top priority for both the outgoing George W. Bush administration and the incoming Obama White House. As New York Times columnist David Leonhardt observed, Democrats had long contemplated remedies for structural problems plaguing the U.S. economy—healthcare, inequality, budget deficits, and so on—but this emergency eclipsed all prior hopes and plans. Austan Goolsbee, economist and Obama advisor, noted, “Unfortunately, the next president’s top priority will be preventing what could become the largest financial crisis since the last century from turning into another Great Depression.” Invoking Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term is apt: in 1933, the newly elected president likewise had to shelve his immediate reform agenda to reverse the catastrophic collapse of America’s banking system. Roosevelt’s policies during the winter of his 1933 inauguration formed the foundation of his New Deal, and recovery from the Great Depression began the moment he took office. Similarly, Obama’s policies during the winter of his 2009 inauguration likely averted an economic crisis rivaling the Great Depression in severity—and launched recovery—but they also ensured no second New Deal would emerge. The consequences of these efforts to stave off global disaster would shadow the remainder of his presidency. With only six weeks remaining before the 2008 election, astute observers sensed a historic moment—not only because Senator Obama stood poised to become the nation’s first Black president, but also because the country was increasingly—and unmistakably—suffering, as Obama himself put it, “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” In September, Obama’s Republican opponent, fellow Senator John McCain, first declared, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” then announced he would suspend his campaign to devote full attention to congressional efforts addressing the financial crisis. Obama continued his own presidential campaign while consulting with Democratic members of Congress. At that moment, a journalist reported that both presidential candidates were viewed in Washington as “leaders of their respective parties.” Unlike McCain, Obama’s intervention appeared to yield consequential outcomes—both immediate and enduring. Lawmakers told reporters that although Republicans dramatically suspended campaigning under the banner of financial rescue, “McCain’s imprint on the final rescue package passed by Congress appears negligible.” McCain would vote for the bill (as would Obama), but his visible influence ended there. By contrast, several Democratic members of Congress privately acknowledged that it was Obama himself who persuaded them to support the bill. Indeed, the bill faced fierce opposition from both Democrats and Republicans when first introduced in Congress. Chris Dodd, Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, remarked, “This proposal is staggering and unprecedented in scope—and lacking in detail,” adding that it would place “not only our economy…at risk, but also our Constitution.” His Republican colleague Richard Shelby complained the bill “aims to rescue the very financial institutions that created this crisis.”

Democrat permitting bill authors 'not going to wait' for new US Congress

15 hours ago

Democratic lawmakers are pushing to pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act immediately to overhaul federal permitting for energy and infrastructure projects, including mines and fuel facilities. TD Cowen lowered its success probability for the legislation following the midterm elections.

reuters

2026-11-04

Democrat permitting bill authors 'not going to wait' for new US Congress

Democrat permitting bill authors 'not going to wait' for new US Congress

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