US Senate Delays Clarity Act Vote to September, Missing August Recess Deadline

The US Senate vote on the Clarity Act, a digital-asset market structure bill, has been delayed until September.

Jordain Carney, a senior congressional reporter at Politico, wrote on X on August 6 that Senate Republican leader John Thune had pushed the vote to September. The Senate will prepare the legislation so it can move as soon as lawmakers return from recess.

Politico had earlier reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter, that Senate Republican leaders were expected to leave for the August recess without voting on the Clarity Act. Bipartisan talks are continuing, but Democrats have yet to back the bill.

Thune could still file cloture, the procedural step needed to advance consideration of the legislation. Even so, a final floor vote would come after lawmakers return to Washington in September.

Democrats have also refused to agree to a deal that would accelerate consideration of the remaining bills before the recess. They say more negotiations are needed over ethics provisions in the crypto legislation and over yield payments.

The White House and Congress are also negotiating bipartisan revisions to ethics provisions drafted by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego. Disagreements over yield payments on crypto products, including stablecoins, have also emerged as a late-stage issue.

With a vote before the recess now off the table, the focus of negotiations shifts to September. Whether Democrats and Republicans can reach agreement on the key issues will determine the bill's path forward.