Republican campaign committees want the Supreme Court to mandate lower prices for election commercials on broadcast TV stations. If the court agrees, broadcasters would be forced to offer their lowest ad prices to political parties and joint fundraising committees.
For a more thorough description of the legal issues in the dispute, see this article that Ars published yesterday. In short, US law requires broadcasters to offer individual candidates the “lowest unit charge,” or LUC, during the 60 days before an election. The law helps level the playing field somewhat by letting candidates make their cases to voters who watch broadcast TV without needing to raise exorbitant sums of money.
The Trump administration, acting through the Federal Communications Commission, ordered broadcast TV stations to also give these discounts to political parties and joint fundraising committees, which face fewer limits on how much money they can raise and spend. Four Democratic candidates appealed, and a judges’ panel at the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that the FCC order cannot be enforced because it contradicts the plain language of US law.
Pro-bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis has said that bipartisan work is going into the crypto Clarity Act but warned that some lawmakers are still making unreasonable demands.
The Republican, speaking to Fox Business Wednesday, said that she had been working with Democratic lawmakers into the night to get the bill over the line.
But she said that some Democrats were still dragging their feet on the bill. Lawmakers are pushing to get a vote on the crypto market structure bill before the Senate goes to recess.
JUST IN: Senator Cynthia Lummis says "I believe we will get a vote on the Clarity Act before August recess."
"I don't think we'll be leaving on Friday, I think we'll go into the weekend."
“The president agreed to an ethics provision that no president has ever agreed to,” Lummis said. “He’s gone farther to protect ethics than any president in history — yet the Democrats do want more. Their proposal is in front of the president now, and we’ll see what he does.”
She added: “We’re going to vote on it. If it dies, it’s going to be because the Democrats kill it. I’ve bent over backwards for 11 months, to give them as much as we can possibly give them to regulate this industry.”
The Clarity Act has been in a deadlock for much of 2026, partially because the banking lobby raised concerns over crypto companies allowing clients to earn stablecoin yield.
An updated bill of the Clarity Act was introduced in July addressing concerns around ethics; it now bans government officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
Democrats have criticized President Trump’s family crypto business ventures. The White House has always said there have been no conflicts of interest.
A group of Democrats in July said the bill needs work.
Major financial institutions like Fidelity and BlackRock, and law enforcement organizations have thrown their weight behind the new bill,
If passed, the Clarity Act would create a regulatory framework for the U.S. cryptocurrency market.
Republicans continue to criticize Democrats for dragging their feet when it comes to the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Senator Bill Hagerty said that the U.S. could not afford to fall behind the rest of the world with digital asset regulation.
Lawmakers have just the next two days to vote on the Clarity Act before the Senate goes to recess. A bipartisan draft of the bill has been circulating among lawmakers but a number of Democrats are being pernickety over wording in the bill, say some Republicans.
JUST IN: Senator Bill Hagerty tells Fox Business "We're going to have to pass the Clarity Act."
"There's no way that we can allow the U.S. to fall behind in the digital assets arena." pic.twitter.com/mYwfu0JEVU
“I think the problem is, will we be able to pass this with Democrats right now, or are they going to let midterm politics get in the way,” Hagerty said.
He added: “Everything is moving digital around the world. The Genius Act was a major step forward to make certain that the digital dollar remains dominant in the world, but we need to follow it up with the remainder of the market. We’re going to have to pass the Clarity Act.”
Still, Republican majority leader John Thune told reporters on Monday that the bill would likely get at least an initial vote this week — despite lawmakers being inundated with other pieces of legislation.
A number of major financial institutions, lawmakers and companies have thrown their weight behind the new bill, which was passed in the house of representatives last year with strong bipartisan support.
Still, a number of Democrats have expressed concerns around the wording in the bill, saying in a statement that it needs work.
Republicans have alleged that this is just Democrats playing politics, and that the bill has already had a lot of changes.
Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis in particular has said that Democrats are deliberately holding back the bill.
Speaking on Fox Business Tuesday, former Republican Senator Pat Toomey mentioned that it was urgent to get the bill passed this week.
“I think it’s essential that the Senate pass this legislation this week,” he said. “The technology of the blockchain is very powerful — it has the ability to transform finance and I think other parts of our economy, but there needs to be legal clarity.”
The Clarity Act has been in a deadlock for much of 2026, partially because the banking lobby raised concerns over stablecoin yield.
An updated bill of the Clarity Act was introduced in July addressing ethics concerns. It now bans government officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
If passed, the Clarity Act would create a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market.
The Clarity Act will likely get through despite some — older — Democrats holding it back, according to Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad.
Speaking on The Hill’s morning Rising show Friday, Shirzad said that crypto was “maybe the most bipartisan issue in Washington.”
JUST IN: Coinbase Chief Policy Officer talks CLARITY ACT progress on The Hill:
""We've got ethics nailed down, we've got nominations nailed down, we've got a bipartisan bill on the substance, we should be good to go" pic.twitter.com/gMKuM7ujYs
He added that while some lawmakers were holding back the long-awaited legislation, younger Democrats got it.
“A lot of the opposition is generational — so it is Democrats who oppose it — but I think younger members who understand the technology, understand that money is transforming how we should engage financially, how we need to adapt, and so it’s really a generational shift,” he said.
“I think we’ll be on the winning end of that because right now there are about 67 million Americans who own crypto,” Shirzad added. “We’ve got ethics nailed down, we’ve got nominations nailed down, we’ve got a bipartisan bill on the substance, we should be good to go.”
Lawmakers are currently mulling over the latest draft of the Clarity Act, which aims to set in stone digital asset regulation. The latest draft bans officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
A new draft started circulating this month, banning officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto — something opposition lawmakers previously had issue with.
But some Democrats are still unhappy with the bill in its current form. A group of Democrats last week said in a statement that the bill in its current form falls short.
The bill has been in a deadlock this year, partially because banking chiefs raised concerns over stablecoin yield and ethics concerns.
Banking lobbyists have said that if crypto exchanges pay attractive yields to customers, banks could lose their deposit base.
Shirzad previously said in an interview that the bill was an “extraordinarily bipartisan” piece of work.
If approved, the bill would set in stone crypto regulation in the world’s largest economy.
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