# Senate rejects Clarity Act cloture 49-50 > The U.S. Senate rejected cloture on H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, 49-50 on Sept. 15, 2026. Sixty votes were required just to start debate. - **Source:** https://ptycoin.com/en/posts/2026-09-16-clarity-act-cloture-fails/ - **Published:** 2026-09-16 - **Category:** News - **Author:** Mateo - **Tags:** regulation, compliance, institutional, exchanges, latam - **Also published in:** [Español](https://ptycoin.com/es/posts/2026-09-16-clarity-act-cloture-fails/) --- The U.S. Senate on **15 September 2026** rejected cloture on the motion to proceed to [**H.R. 3633**](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633), the **Digital Asset Market Clarity Act**, by **49 yeas to 50 nays**, with one senator not voting. The [official roll call, vote 234](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1192/vote_119_2_00234.htm), recorded at 2:19 p.m., lists the result as **Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected**. Three-fifths of the Senate, **60** votes, were required; the yeas were eleven short. Cloture on the motion to proceed is the gate that would have opened floor debate. Passage, a conference product, and a presidential signature would still have been later steps. After Tuesday, none of those steps is in motion. ## What the clerk recorded The clerk's sheet is 49–50, with Sen. **Chris Coons** (D-Del.) not voting. Four Republicans voted no: **Susan Collins** of Maine, **Josh Hawley** of Missouri, **Jerry Moran** of Kansas, and **Thom Tillis** of North Carolina. [The Hill](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/6091004-senate-blocks-clarity-act/) and [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-fails-to-advance-clarity-act-amid-democratic-concerns-about-crypto-bill/) name the same four; the Senate list matches. Every Democrat who cast a ballot voted nay, as did Independents **Angus King** and **Bernie Sanders**. The House had already passed its Clarity vehicle on **17 July 2025** by **294–134**, with four members not voting, on [roll call 199](https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025199). Tuesday's Senate action never reached that stage. PTYcoin's Policy desk [previewed the 15 September cloture](/en/posts/2026-08-27-hr-3633-clarity-act-sept-15-cloture/) against the July 22 Lummis substitute. This piece is the recorded result of that vote. ## Ethics, as the parties named it Majority Leader **John Thune** called Clarity the "next logical step" after last year's **GENIUS Act** on payment stablecoins, CBS reported, and said GOP sponsors had taken more than 100 Democratic-requested changes. Sen. **Cynthia Lummis** (R-Wyo.) made the floor pitch [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/15/crypto-clarity-act-flames-out-in-failed-u-s-senate-vote) recorded: "Do not let this day be the day we handed our future to someone else because we were too afraid to finish what we started." After the loss she said Democrats "played games" and "moved the goal posts," according to The Hill. Republican aides described Sunday's text as a last offer, with White House-approved ethics language that, The Hill wrote, would let state attorneys general as well as the Justice Department bring cases. Democrats named ethics as the reason they held. Sen. **Elizabeth Warren** (D-Mass.) said on the floor that the bill "would turbocharge Donald Trump's unprecedented corruption" and that "no one has more to gain personally from this bill than the president," per CBS. Sen. **Raphael Warnock** (D-Ga.) told reporters Democrats should not advance a bill that "does not address the Trump family's approach to this, where they're clearly focused on enriching themselves." Sen. **Elissa Slotkin** (D-Mich.) said in a [written statement](https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/2026/09/15/slotkin-statement-on-voting-no-on-clarity-act/) that "the ethics provisions in this bill are simply too thin" and that she would not vote for legislation that, in her words, "codifies that behavior from public officials." Sen. **Ruben Gallego** (D-Ariz.) accused GOP leadership of cutting off talks "just as Democrats and Republicans were making progress to address ethics concerns" and said the bill "failed squarely because Republicans refuse to say no to the president." Those are their claims. Vote 234 does not adjudicate them. ## The bill that stalled, and the statute already on the books Clarity is the market-structure map: which digital assets would sit with the **SEC**, which with the **CFTC**, and how spot digital-commodity venues would register. **GENIUS** is the 2025 federal statute for payment stablecoins, already signed and in agency implementation. CoinDesk and Slotkin's own statement treat the two as separate tracks. Dollar-token rulemaking under GENIUS continues on its own clock. For teams in Latin America that already raise from U.S. investors, list on U.S.-touching venues, or move dollars through GENIUS-permitted issuers, Tuesday's result is a U.S. overlay that did not lock. Pix, SPEI, and Bre-B keep their own clocks. Local VASP files do too. The Senate declined to write a statute that would tell a U.S.-touching desk whether it is a CFTC digital-commodity exchange or an SEC intermediary. Until Congress tries again, that map stays in guidance, proposals, and enforcement. The SEC's August [Regulation Crypto Assets](/en/posts/2026-08-19-sec-regulation-crypto-assets/) proposal can still run on a comment clock. CoinDesk notes Chairman **Paul Atkins** has said agency crypto rules will not be durable without a statute underneath them. That is the chair's warning, not a forecast of the next Congress. ## What operators actually take from Tuesday The 119th Congress has a thin remaining calendar before the November midterms. CoinDesk's read is that industry attention now sits with the SEC and CFTC, and that a revived market-structure bill in a new Congress is a different coalition problem. Slotkin said she remains open to another try built on the bipartisan pieces. Nothing in vote 234 enacts, amends, or repeals GENIUS. If you operate a U.S.-facing exchange, broker, or custodian, the Senate declined to begin debate. Treat the July 22 Lummis substitute as draft text that did not reach the floor. If you hold keys yourself, no self-custody clause became law. If you move stablecoins for payroll or remittances, GENIUS implementation is still the federal track, including the issuer-redemption fights already in the comment file. This is a report of a recorded Senate vote, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Verify the clerk's sheet on the [Senate roll call](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1192/vote_119_2_00234.htm) before you change a product plan. ## Takeaway On 15 September 2026 the Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 by 49–50. Four Republicans joined a unified Democratic no. Sponsors said they had already moved on ethics; Democrats said the language still left officials' crypto interests too loose. Debate never started. The House-passed bill from July 2025 remains unfinished Senate business. --- ## Keep reading - [91 Fed. Reg. 37234's PPSI CIP proposal left open whether a secondary-market holder redeeming directly must open an issuer account, and the ABA's 21 August 2026 letter says that cash-out must trigger CIP before dollars move](https://ptycoin.com/en/posts/2026-09-10-91-fr-37234-ppsi-cip-direct-redemption/index.md): ABA's 21 Aug 2026 letter on 91 Fed. Reg. 37234 says every direct stablecoin purchase or redemption must open a PPSI account and run CIP first; Blockchain Association would carve out one-off cash-outs. - [PL 1.536/2023, as substituted by the Senate CCT on 2 September 2026, would put client-asset segregation into Lei 14.478/2022 so exchange-held balances cannot answer for a PSAV's debts, with CAE and CCJ still ahead before it becomes law](https://ptycoin.com/en/posts/2026-09-03-pl-1536-brazil-vasp-client-segregation/index.md): Senate CCT approved a Portinho substitute to PL 1.536/2023 on 2 Sept 2026 that would put client-asset segregation into Lei 14.478/2022. It still needs CAE and CCJ. - [H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, faces a 15 September 2026 Senate cloture vote that would only open floor debate on the July 22 substitute splitting SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets](https://ptycoin.com/en/posts/2026-08-27-hr-3633-clarity-act-sept-15-cloture/index.md): Senate cloture on H.R. 3633 is set for 15 Sept 2026. The July 22 Clarity Act substitute would split SEC–CFTC crypto jurisdiction; 60 votes only open debate. --- Source: PTYcoin — https://ptycoin.com/en/posts/2026-09-16-clarity-act-cloture-fails/. Free to read and cite with attribution to ptycoin.com. AI-usage terms: https://ptycoin.com/en/ai-usage/