Crypto Bill Held Hostage by 38-Day Government Shutdown as Senate Prepares Critical Vote

The United States government shutdown has entered its 38th day, marking the longest in history, as the Senate prepares for a critical vote on a new funding bill that could determine when Washington ￰0￱ political deadlock has halted progress on key legislative priorities, including the long-anticipated crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY ￰1￱ Shutdown Risks 2% GDP Hit as Senate Prepares Crucial Vote The Senate is expected to vote this week on a Republican-backed proposal that would end the shutdown and fund several federal agencies through the rest of the fiscal ￰2￱ measure requires 60 votes to advance, and while Republican leaders have expressed cautious optimism, uncertainty remains over whether enough Democrats will support it.

“My hopes and expectations are always that we’re going to have enough Democrats to actually proceed, but I don’t know, we’ll see,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told ￰3￱ standoff, which began on October 1 after lawmakers failed to agree on a budget, stems from disagreements over healthcare subsidies tied to the Affordable Care ￰4￱ have demanded an extension of expiring tax credits that help about 24 million Americans afford insurance, while Republicans argue that those issues should be negotiated separately once the government ￰5￱ Government Shutdown So Far: 1.42 million people face interruption of SNAP 2.3.5 million people have seen airfare disruptions 3.750,000 employees furloughed 4.5,000 flights set to be cancelled per day 5. $15 billion in US GDP lost per week 6. $10 billion of SNAP… — Zarar Khan (@DrZarar01) November 7, 2025 With roughly 1.4 million federal workers affected, including 700,000 furloughed since early October, the shutdown’s economic and social toll is ￰6￱ workers have now missed multiple paychecks, and agencies from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to the USDA are cutting ￰7￱ – No Snap Benefits Until Government ￰8￱ — Ryan (Emperador Maximiliano) (@EmpMaximiliano) November 4, 2025 A Rhode Island court on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore full funding for the SNAP program after it had been reduced to partial ￰9￱ administration has appealed the decision, arguing that funding decisions should await congressional ￰10￱ 42 million Americans depend on the program, which costs more than $8 billion per ￰11￱ warn the prolonged shutdown could inflict lasting damage on the ￰12￱ out this shutdown is incredibly costly, averaging ~15B per ￰13￱ past shutdowns, 650K furloughed workers may not get back pay, food aid is cut, small businesses without their loans, and some economic damage could be permanent if it extends through the ￰14￱ — Tahra Hoops (@TahraHoops) November 5, 2025 The Congressional Budget Office estimates the standoff could shave up to two percentage points off fourth-quarter GDP growth, draining between $10 billion and $30 billion ￰15￱ businesses that rely on federal contracts and loans are running short on capital, and consumer spending is declining as millions of workers remain ￰16￱ Long Can Crypto Wait While Washington Sleeps?

The shutdown has also paralyzed Washington’s regulatory ￰17￱ overseeing financial markets, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), are operating with skeleton ￰18￱ of pending applications, including multiple proposals for crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), have been suspended. Interesting: Because most SEC staff are currently furloughed due to the government shutdown, they will NOT be available to review or respond to Fails-to-Deliver (FTD) related queries or compliance ISSUES unless they are designated as EMERGENCY ￰19￱ — Reese Politics (@ReesePolitics) November 3, 2025 The impasse has effectively frozen legislative momentum on digital ￰20￱ bipartisan CLARITY Act, designed to define how cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are regulated across federal agencies, had seen renewed activity in late ￰21￱ John Boozman and Cory Booker said their committees were working “daily ” to finalize their section of the bill and expected a vote before Thanksgiving.

However, with the government shutdown entering its sixth week, that timeline is now in ￰22￱ CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC that roughly 90% of the bill’s issues had already been resolved and that Thanksgiving had been floated as a possible target for ￰23￱ market fallout has extended beyond Capitol ￰24￱ liquidity squeeze triggered by the shutdown, exacerbated by the ￰25￱ General Account hoarding funds while agencies remain closed, has weighed heavily on risk ￰26￱ has retreated from recent highs , testing long-term support levels as investors navigate reduced market liquidity and uncertainty around fiscal policy. Meanwhile, prediction markets indicate growing skepticism about a quick resolution to the shutdown.