Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego said he will work with Republicans on a counterproposal to White House-approved ethics provisions in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, after Senate Republicans released draft text this week that Democrats said did not go far enough.

The CLARITY Act is a centerpiece of Congress's effort to establish a federal market-structure framework for digital assets, clarifying the division of regulatory authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill advanced through the House with bipartisan support earlier this year, but negotiations have stalled over the scope of conflict-of-interest rules.

Senate Republicans released the proposed text for the CLARITY Act on Wednesday. The draft includes ethics language that would bar all US federal officials — including US President Donald Trump — from issuing or sponsoring any digital asset.

The ethics fight has gained urgency amid scrutiny of crypto ventures tied to Trump and his family, including the World Liberty Financial platform and the Trump-branded memecoin launched ahead of his inauguration. Democrats have argued that the GOP draft contains loopholes that would not adequately restrict those activities.

Democrats have pushed back on the proposal, arguing that the ethics provisions fall short. Gallego told Politico on Thursday that the draft was “not a serious effort.”

“Whatever piece of s--- they sent back to us, that was not a serious effort,” Gallego said.

“I can’t imagine that that’s a serious effort — after all the work that we’ve done with our Republican colleagues, that they would take the months and months of work and somehow interpret that and turn around and think what they offered was even remotely close.”

Senate Republicans have rejected the claim that the ethics provisions are weak. Senator Bernie Moreno described the draft as containing “the most powerful ethics language in US history” in an X post.

Gallego said he would work with Senator Thom Tillis and other Republicans to develop a counterproposal.

“We are still in this fight,” Gallego told Politico. “We are going to send back language.”