U.S. Senate Sets Sept. 15 Procedural Vote on CLARITY Act, Passage Unclear Amid Ethics Dispute

The U.S. Senate is headed for its first major vote next week on the CLARITY Act, a market-structure bill for digital assets. Republicans have released an amendment, but the bill’s path remains uncertain as disagreements over ethics provisions persist.

Crypto in America reported on September 11 that the Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on debate over the CLARITY Act at 2:15 p.m. on September 15. Cloture requires 60 votes. With at least two Republican senators poised to oppose the measure, supporters need at least nine Democratic votes.

The central sticking point is the ethics provision. Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego proposed a bipartisan compromise in July that would bar federally elected officials and judges from issuing or endorsing digital assets. It would also require them to divest related financial interests or place them in a blind trust. The White House has so far not responded to the proposal, either publicly or privately, the report said.

A Republican amendment released recently would refine provisions on decentralized finance, or DeFi, and expand credit unions’ authority to handle digital assets. But it left untouched the ethics provision that has faced pushback from Democrats and some Republicans.

A stablecoin compensation provision is another variable. The American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America are urging changes, saying that permitting interest-like rewards could drain deposits from community banks and curb their lending capacity. Republican Senators Jerry Moran and Josh Hawley have also indicated they could vote against the bill if the current language stays in place.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, by contrast, wants the Senate to move the bill forward first and continue negotiating the disputed provisions afterward. He warned that failure to advance the legislation could send a negative signal about the U.S.’s competitiveness in digital-asset regulation and its ability to combat crypto-related crime.

Even if the bill passes the Senate, more hurdles remain before it can become law this year. The House has canceled voting sessions for the final two weeks of September, and both chambers are set to recess in October. That makes it increasingly likely that House action on the Senate amendment will slip to the lame-duck session in November.