The CLARITY Act has yet to make it through the U.S. Senate after the procedural failure of a larger package of crypto market structure legislation, with Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis disagreeing with Democratic negotiators about that failure.
The Sept. 15 vote concerned cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, not final passage. Sixty votes were required to open debate, but 49 senators backed the motion while 50 opposed it and Sen. Chris Coons did not vote. Republicans Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Jerry Moran and Thom Tillis voted no. Senate records say Tillis did so to seek reconsideration.
Lummis spoke openly about the vote for the first time during CoinDesk’s Policy & Regulation event on September 22, saying she was “dismayed, dumbfounded and saddened”.
She argued that Democrats had chosen to oppose US President Donald Trump’s administration over legislation to regulate the crypto market structure and blamed the Democrats for the failed vote. These comments were simply her political assessment, and not an explanation for each vote.
Democratic negotiators cited strong ethics provisions. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks backed federal rules for digital assets but wanted stronger cryptomoney rules for the financial holdings of presidents and legislators.
Later, Alsobrooks, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock said they remained committed to the legislation and bipartisan discussions.
Prior to the vote, Republican sponsors released a revised draft, and Lummis, Senate Agriculture Committee chair John Boozman, and Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott said 126 substantive changes were made at Democrats’ request.
The Sept. 14 proposal would have included more ethics language, allowed for state attorneys general action, and granted the Treasury authority to address deposit flight risks in payment stablecoins.
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The bill would create a federal framework for the regulation of digital commodities and clarify the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). H.R. 3633 passed the House by a vote of 294-134 in July 2025, with 78 Democrats supporting.
Beyond ethics, Reuters said banking groups warned stablecoins will compete for deposits and threaten lending, while the crypto industry expected rules on stablecoin-linked products to ensure their legality.
Trump family crypto holdings resurfaced in negotiations again as Democrats pushed for regulation of elected officials’ cryptocurrency holdings.
The failed cloture motion does not kill the CLARITY Act, since Tillis filed a motion to reconsider the vote on the cloture motion and a revote can occur.
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As of Sept. 23, Senate records do not show another vote on cloture on H.R. 3633, but Republican sponsors of the bill say they want to move it, and Democratic negotiators say they’re willing to talk.
For the crypto industry, it left the fate of anything resembling a U.S. market structure up in the air, since any Senate version would have to be reconciled with the House-approved bill before it could be sent to the president.
