Progressives Target Gillibrand Over CLARITY Act Ethics
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Indivisible, Demand Progress, and the Revolving Door Project sent a letter to every Democratic Senate office Tuesday evening attacking Gillibrand as she brokers compromise on CLARITY Act ethics provisions, arguing her son's involvement in crypto leaves Democrats vulnerable to the same corruption charge they level against Trump
- Gillibrand has called for Congress to ban elected officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, calling it a commonsense reform that should win broad bipartisan support
- Trump's crypto ventures have generated an estimated $600 million windfall, per Axios, testing norms around presidents profiting from businesses affected by government decisions
- The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May with support from two Democrats — Sens. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) and Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) — but needs 60 votes to clear the Senate floor
- Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) are working with the White House on compromise ethics language, while Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) leads the GOP-side negotiations on those provisions
- Fairshake, the crypto industry's flagship super PAC, has roughly $125 million on hand, giving both parties strong incentive to reach a deal before the midterms
- Last year's GENIUS Act passed with 18 Senate Democrats voting in favor, demonstrating the bipartisan appetite that CLARITY Act proponents hope to replicate despite the new progressive pressure campaign
Why it matters: The progressive offensive threatens to derail the crypto industry's top legislative priority just as bipartisan negotiations on ethics language show real progress. With Fairshake's $125 million war chest ready to deploy and midterms approaching, Democrats face a binary choice: alienate a well-funded industry or absorb primary-style pressure from the left on the same corruption argument they deploy against Trump.
