Senate GOP rejects Democrats' CLARITY Act counteroffer before cloture vote
Regulation & Gov ·
A test vote requiring 60 senators to advance sweeping crypto market-structure legislation is set for Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. ET, with the tally still unsettled after Republicans turned down a last-minute Democratic rewrite.
Senate Republicans dismissed a counterproposal from Democrats on the CLARITY Act just hours before the scheduled cloture vote, according to Punchbowl News and Crypto In America. Democrats had pushed for tighter ethics restrictions, a narrower scope for BRCA developer protections, and firmer conflict-of-interest language, while leaving proposed stablecoin yield rules largely intact. Republicans countered that their existing bill text already reflects 126 substantive changes sought by Democrats and described it as their final offer on the table.
The rejection was confirmed separately by Senator Lummis, who declined to accept the Democratic revisions, according to The Block. That account lines up with reporting circulated via WuBlockchain, and the episode has now been covered across five separate outlets tracking the bill's path through the chamber.
Behind the standoff is disagreement over how far new ethics guardrails on the administration should go. Republicans released a revised offer over the weekend that added stronger restrictions tied to the president, but Democratic senators argued Monday night that the framework still fell short of closing potential conflicts of interest. That view was echoed publicly by lawmakers who said they were unwilling to advance a bill they see as leaving room for corruption.
Uncertainty extends beyond party lines. Several Republicans have signaled discomfort with the bill's current form, including concerns that it could push deposits out of community banks, and at least one is on record as undecided given the legislation's length and last-minute ethics additions. Others have indicated they may support moving the bill to the floor procedurally without committing to vote for its final passage.
With the 60-vote threshold unresolved, the immediate open question is whether enough senators from both parties will back cloture Tuesday afternoon, and, if it advances, whether the ethics and banking concerns raised in recent days get addressed before a final passage vote.