House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill says SEC and CFTC crypto rulemaking cannot replace a federal statute, pointing to the CLARITY Act's stalled Senate vote. He wants Congress to pass the bill during the post-election lame-duck session, when the Senate will have only 22 remaining session days.
Rep. French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told Fox Business on Oct. 7 that SEC and CFTC crypto rulemaking falls short of a congressional solution. The Arkansas Republican argued agency rules stay exposed to reversal, while a statute would not.
CLARITY Act falls short in the Senate
Hill's remarks follow the Senate's failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which lost 49-50 on Sept. 15, short of the 60 votes needed to open debate. The House had already passed its own version of the bill, H.R. 3633, in July 2025 by a 294-134 vote that included support from 78 Democrats.
Hill bets on the lame-duck session
Hill said he still hopes Congress can pass the bill once lawmakers return after the midterms, noting the Senate will have only 22 scheduled session days between the elections and the start of the next Congress. According to Decrypt: "these regulatory policies fall short of what we have to do", Hill said, framing agency action as no substitute for a permanent law change.
Agencies press ahead as seats sit empty
SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig have continued crypto rulemaking under their existing authority, including a conditional tokenized-stock trading exemption the SEC issued on Sept. 17 and a CFTC crypto markets measure that entered White House review the same day. But both agencies are thin on leadership: seven commissioner seats sit vacant across the SEC and CFTC, after Hester Peirce's resignation from the SEC the previous week left Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda as its only members.
Hill is betting that the Senate can still deliver what the thinly staffed regulators, on their own, cannot.
Sources: crypto.news, Decrypt, Crypto Briefing
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