Melker Bengtsson
TL;DR
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Trump urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act to honor Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away on July 11th
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Graham had an excellent crypto voting record but wasn't directly involved in writing laws on the matter
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Republicans are pushing for a vote before the August 7th recess, with ethics rules the main blocker
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump urged the senate to pass the CLARITY Act to honor Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham was a long-serving Republican senator who, according to Trump, was a big supporter of US dominance in the field of digital assets and AI. Graham passed away on July 11th.
Cynthia Lummis, Senate's lead crypto legislator, echoed Trump's sentiment in a Tweet by posting a screenshot from Trump's post on Truth Social.
Couldn’t agree more with @POTUS. Senator Graham was a good friend of mine and was passionate about ensuring that American leadership stayed at the forefront of everything - including digital assets.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 13, 2026
Let’s get Clarity passed and to President Trump’s desk. pic.twitter.com/F62WwkX4GP
While Graham has an excellent track record voting on crypto matters, voting 6/7 pro crypto according to Stand With Crypto, and voted to pass the GENIUS Act, he was not directly involved in writing laws on the matter. He wasn’t on the Agriculture or Banking committees that craft most crypto acts. Rather, Graham was deeply involved in defence.
Republicans Push for a Vote Before the August 7th Recess
Republicans are currently pushing to get a vote on the CLARITY Act before the August 7th recess. Defence is expected to consume this week's floor time so next week is the first available slot. Before that happens though, the Agriculture and Banking committees need to present their merged text.
The main blocker at the moment are the ethics rules. Democrats want rules preventing officials from profiting from crypto projects, possibly sharpened by Trump’s disclosed $1.4 billion crypto income from the TRUMP coin as well as other holdings.
The emotional plea to honor Senator Graham is just the latest in the Republican push to get the act over the finish line. Just last week, CFTC Chief Michael Selig went on Fox Business urging the Senate to pass the bill in order to protect consumers, create a unified, federal rule set and assert America stays in the driver's seat.
