The CLARITY Act Got A Vote Date — It’s Still Almost Certainly Doomed

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By: Gavin Thorne

Everyone in DC is spinning the CLARITY Act cloture filing as a big breakthrough for U.S. crypto regulation. That’s nonsense. This is just political theater to keep lobbying dollars flowing ahead of the November midterms. No one has fixed the core sticking points that killed progress before the August recess. The September 15 procedural vote date is just a placeholder, not a meaningful step forward. Even industry insiders privately admit they’re just playing for time, not a win this year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture at 4:52 a.m. ET on a Saturday. The filing came after an overnight session that ran past the chamber’s scheduled Friday departure. The procedural vote is set for September 15, right after lawmakers return from August recess. Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate. Cloture needs 60 votes to pass, so they need at least seven Democrats or independents to cross over. The CLARITY Act would split crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC, and clarify if assets are securities or commodities.

Cloture only limits debate to bring the bill to the floor for a full vote. It does not pass the bill itself. Three major issues still separate the two parties on the text. Those are ethics rules, illicit finance provisions, and language from the Senate Agriculture Committee. A proposed ethics compromise would require President Trump to divest all his crypto-related business holdings. Trump has not signed off on that plan. Even Republican support has cracks. Senator Josh Hawley says he won’t back the bill until it addresses deposit flight concerns.

The Crypto Council for Innovation called the cloture filing a critical step forward. But the group admits it wanted a full vote before recess, not after. It’s spending the entire August recess lobbying both parties to pick up enough crossover votes. That lobbying push is an uphill long shot at best. Galaxy Research already cut its odds of the bill passing in 2026 from 50% to 30% last month. The firm points to the shrinking Senate calendar as the main reason. Lawmakers come back to Washington September 14, just one day before the vote.

Crypto lobbying groups have poured millions into pushing this bill for years. They want clear oversight rules to unlock billions in stalled institutional investment into the sector. But the ethics fight tied to Trump’s personal holdings has turned a routine policy fight into a partisan mess. Democrats refuse to move forward without the Trump divestment requirement. Republicans can’t force Trump to accept a deal that cuts into his own business interests. Many GOP lawmakers don’t want to cross the former president ahead of the midterms. The clock is already ticking toward the midterms, and no one wants to cast a tough vote this close to election day.

The CLARITY Act will fail to reach the 60-vote threshold on September 15, and it will not get another vote in 2026.

Author bio: Gavin Thorne, an investigative journalist tracking special interests and legislative affairs based in Washington, D.C.