Senate Democrats plan to deny cloture on the Clarity Act, Punchbowl News reported, leaving the landmark crypto market structure bill short of 60 votes just days before the Aug. 7 recess.
Key Takeaways
Punchbowl News has reported that Democrats will block cloture, citing stalled White House ethics talks.Sen. Ruben Gallego said Republicans aren’t engaging, while Sen. John Thune still wants a vote this week.Polymarket traders have cut the Clarity Act’s 2026 passage odds to just 23%.Senators have already sent a bipartisan ethics text to the White House, but with no response, the procedural vote is set to fail. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who helped craft the ethics compromise alongside Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), did not hide his frustration, adding:
We are clearly here, trying to engage in a constructive manner. At this point, if they’re not engaging, it’s telling me that they don’t want this to happen.
The ethics dispute has dogged the bill for weeks and Democrats want enforceable limits on federal officials profiting from digital assets while in office (language aimed squarely at President Trump’s family crypto ventures). Subsequently, they have dismissed the provision in the current 616-page text as insufficient.
Thune Digs In as the Clock RunsIf Thune files cloture on Wednesday, a vote could still happen before the Friday deadline; if the vote fails or never comes, the bill is parked until at least September, when the ethics standoff resumes with midterm politics bearing down.
