Senate to vote Tuesday on final CLARITY Act with 126 Democratic changes

September 14, 2026 at 08:45 PM2 min

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The Senate will vote Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. on cloture for the CLARITY Act after Republicans released a final draft incorporating 126 Democratic changes. The revised bill adds ethics rules for federal officials and a stablecoin deposit-flight backstop for community banks. The vote requires 60 senators to advance the legislation to formal consideration.

Key Facts

The final CLARITY Act draft incorporates 126 substantive changes requested by Democrats over more than a year of negotiations.
The Senate cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. and requires 60 votes.
The ethics provisions would impose civil penalties equal to 20% of the consideration received in a prohibited transaction or $500,000, whichever is greater.
The stablecoin compromise authorizes the Treasury secretary to restrict rewards for payment stablecoin holders if substantial deposit flight from community banks is determined in writing.
The Treasury secretary's circuit-breaker authority would expire 18 months after enactment.

Final Negotiations

Senate Republicans released the final CLARITY Act draft on Monday after incorporating 126 substantive changes requested by Democrats. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman presented the revised text. The latest revisions focus on four unresolved disputes: ethics rules for federal officials, a backstop for stablecoin-related bank deposit flight, developer protections, and rules for digital commodity intermediaries. The cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 is set for Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.

Ethics and Bank Safeguards

The ethics language gives state attorneys general a role in enforcing restrictions on covered officials who issue or sponsor digital assets or maintain significant financial interests in digital asset issuers. Covered individuals would be required to divest those interests or place them in a qualified blind trust. Violations could bring civil penalties equal to 20% of the consideration received in a prohibited transaction or $500,000, whichever is greater. The provisions would take effect 360 days after enactment or 60 days after the final implementing rule, whichever comes sooner. Republicans said the package reflects substantially all of an ethics proposal backed by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego.

Stablecoin Circuit Breaker

The stablecoin compromise adds a separate circuit breaker for community banks. If the Treasury secretary determines in writing that substantial deposit flight is occurring from those banks, Treasury would be directed to write rules restricting rewards available to payment stablecoin holders. That authority would expire 18 months after enactment. The broader Section 404 compromise already prohibits covered digital asset service providers and affiliates from paying US customers interest or yield solely for holding payment stablecoins. Activity- or transaction-based rewards can remain, subject to rulemaking, while providers would be barred from marketing stablecoins as bank deposits, investment products, government-backed products, or FDIC-insured products.