U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged senators to advance the CLARITY Act as lawmakers prepare to return from their August recess for a procedural vote that will test whether the crypto market structure bill has enough support to move forward.
Bessent, in a Wednesday post on X, called on lawmakers to stay in negotiations and support the motion to proceed, arguing that failure to move the legislation forward would send a “troubling signal” about U.S. leadership in digital assets.
In July, I called on the Senate to advance the Clarity Act — a bill to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets and upgrade our ability to prevent bad actors from exploiting these critical technologies.
When the Senate returns from August recess, I…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) September 9, 2026
“I strongly urge everyone to remain at the negotiating table, agree to the motion to proceed, and continue the legislative process,” Bessent wrote.
His intervention comes days before the Senate reconvenes on Sept. 14, with a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act scheduled for Sept. 15. The procedural vote would not pass the legislation but would determine whether the Senate can move toward considering it on the floor.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed before lawmakers left Washington in August. The vote requires 60 senators, meaning Republicans would need support from Democrats or independents to advance the measure if the Republican conference votes together.
CLARITY Act faces its Sept. 15 Senate test
The September vote gives the CLARITY Act another chance to move after lawmakers left Washington for their summer break without holding a floor vote.
Bessent had pushed for action before the recess as well. In late July, he called for an immediate vote as negotiations remained stalled over several provisions, including ethics restrictions, protections for software developers and rules covering stablecoin rewards.
The legislation is designed to establish a federal market structure for digital assets, including rules governing which crypto assets fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission and which come under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The House passed its version of the CLARITY Act in July 2025, while the Senate Banking Committee advanced its portion of the legislation in May 2026 by a 15-9 vote. Two Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure at the committee stage.
A combined Senate text has since brought together work from the Banking and Agriculture committees, but lawmakers have continued negotiating provisions covering stablecoin rewards, illicit finance, ethics requirements and protections for developers of non-custodial software.
The September timetable leaves senators with little room to resolve those disputes. Lawmakers return on Sept. 14, with the cloture vote scheduled for the following day and only a limited number of working weeks available before election-related scheduling further reduces floor time.
Law enforcement opposition has eased before the vote
One obstacle was reduced on Sept. 3 when the National Sheriffs Association changed its position on the CLARITY Act from opposition to neutral.
As crypto.news previously reported, the association had raised concerns about how the bill would apply anti-money laundering requirements to decentralized finance services and non-custodial software.
Its change in position removed a law enforcement group from the list of organizations actively opposing the legislation less than two weeks before the scheduled procedural vote.
Developer protections have been one of several difficult parts of the negotiations. Law enforcement groups have sought rules that preserve authorities ability to pursue illicit financial activity, while crypto groups have pushed for protections preventing developers from being treated as money transmitters solely for writing or publishing software.
The dispute had become one of the two major pressure points facing the legislation by June, alongside negotiations over ethics rules covering government officials with financial interests in digital assets.
Democrats have sought stronger conflict-of-interest restrictions, consumer protections and financial-crime provisions. Republicans have argued that the legislation is needed to establish statutory rules for an industry that has largely operated under agency interpretations and enforcement actions.
Stablecoin rewards remain part of the CLARITY Act dispute
Banks and crypto companies have spent months negotiating another major issue: whether digital asset platforms should be allowed to provide rewards linked to stablecoin holdings.
The Senate Banking Committees May text permitted certain activity-based rewards while restricting passive yield. Banking groups argued that crypto platforms could still offer products that compete with bank deposits without operating under the same regulatory requirements.
The dispute prompted a stablecoin rewards compromise before the Banking Committee vote, although several major banking groups maintained that the restrictions did not go far enough.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at the time that banks had secured key concessions in the negotiations, while maintaining that crypto users should still be able to receive rewards tied to actual activity on platforms and blockchain networks.
The disagreement has remained part of the negotiations heading into September, alongside ethics and financial-crime provisions. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said in August that the legislation could not advance without Democratic support and accused Sen. Elizabeth Warrens team of repeatedly changing its demands during talks.
Warren and other Democrats have pressed for stronger investor safeguards, controls against illicit finance and restrictions involving crypto businesses connected to elected officials.
Galaxy puts CLARITY Act passage odds at 10%
Despite the scheduled vote, Galaxy Digital has cut its estimate for the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 to 10%, down sharply from the 75% probability it assigned in May.
https://t.co/CAJXlG0trL
— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) August 14, 2026
Galaxy Head of Firmwide Research Alex Thorn lowered the firms estimate in August after previously reducing it from 75% to 60% and then to 50%.
The firm cited the short Senate calendar and unresolved negotiations as key obstacles. Thorn said lawmakers would have enough time to complete the bill only if the legislation took up much of the Senates remaining working session after the August recess.
The 10% estimate followed months of declining expectations for passage as disagreements over ethics, stablecoin rewards and developer protections continued while available Senate floor time narrowed.
The Sept. 15 cloture vote will require 60 votes to advance the motion to proceed. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, leaving supporters dependent on at least seven votes from Democrats or independents if every Republican backs the motion.
Clearing that threshold would only allow the Senate to move toward considering the legislation. Senators would still need to work through amendments and remaining negotiations before a final passage vote, after which any differences with the House-approved legislation would have to be resolved before the measure could reach the president.