Senate Keeps Clarity Act Alive With Crypto Bill Vote Set for September
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- Thune filed the motion to proceed on the Clarity Act early Saturday morning after an overnight session, teeing up an initial procedural vote for 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, September 15.
- Republicans still need roughly six Democratic crossovers to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold, a gap that has not closed since the bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May with only two Democrats in support.
- Unresolved disputes include illicit-finance and law-enforcement protections, a fight over stablecoin yield and rewards, and government-ethics provisions covering President Trump's crypto holdings.
- A White House-negotiated addendum would require Trump to divest from crypto-related businesses, but as of the filing the White House had offered no public comment on the proposed language.
- The Clarity Act would draw jurisdictional lines between the SEC and CFTC, placing most cryptocurrency activity under the CFTC's purview and giving traditional financial institutions clearer footing to enter the market.
- With the September window closing ahead of midterm campaigning, the coming weeks are widely seen as the last realistic chance for the bill to become law this year before it would need to clear the House again and reach Trump's desk.
Why it matters: The September 15 procedural vote is the chamber's last realistic shot at the Clarity Act before midterm campaigning crowds out the calendar, and six Democrats still need to flip — a gap that hasn't budged since May. The now-central blocker is an ethics addendum requiring Trump to divest from crypto holdings, which the White House has not signed off on, leaving the bipartisan math frozen.
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