Who Are the Key Players Behind the CLARITY Act?

Four congressional committees are shaping the CLARITY Act: House Financial Services under Chairman French Hill, House Agriculture under Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, Senate Banking under Chairman Tim Scott, and Senate Agriculture under Chairman John Boozman. 

Ranking Members Maxine Waters, Amy Klobuchar, and Senator Cory Booker lead the Democratic side of these negotiations. Together, these panels split jurisdiction over digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) passed the House in July 2025 and cleared a Senate committee in May 2026, but as of September 15, 2026, it still hasn’t reached a final Senate floor vote.

What Does the CLARITY Act Actually Do?

The bill decides when a crypto asset counts as a security under SEC rules versus a commodity under CFTC rules. The SEC keeps authority over securities, while the CFTC becomes the main regulator of spot markets for digital commodities, on top of its existing derivatives authority. This split determines which regulator exchanges, token issuers, and DeFi protocols answer to.

Who Wrote the House Version?

House Financial Services Committee: French Hill (R-AR) introduced H.R. 3633 on May 29, 2025, after taking over the committee from retiring Chairman Patrick McHenry. Ranking Member Maxine Waters has pushed for stronger conflict-of-interest rules. Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil has focused on keeping digital asset development based in the U.S.

House Agriculture Committee: Glenn “GT” Thompson co-led the bill through markup, since the CFTC’s new authority falls under his committee’s jurisdiction. Financial Services approved the bill 32-19, Agriculture approved it 47-6 on June 10, 2025, and the full House passed it 294-134 on July 17, 2025, with 78 Democrats voting yes.

Which Senate Committees Are Rewriting the Bill?

Senate Banking Committee: Tim Scott’s committee released a 278-page draft in January 2026 restricting stablecoin yield, then a 309-page compromise in May 2026 adding DeFi and illicit finance provisions. The committee advanced the bill 15-9 on May 14, 2026, with Democrats Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joining all 13 Republicans.

Senate Agriculture Committee: John Boozman and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar oversee the companion Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA). Boozman and Cory Booker released a bipartisan draft in November 2025, but Booker later withdrew support. The DCIA advanced 12-11 on a party-line vote in January 2026.

Why Hasn’t the Senate Voted Yet?

The Banking and Agriculture texts still need merging before a final Senate vote. The amended Banking bill was placed on the Legislative Calendar as Calendar No. 423 on June 1, 2026, but leadership let it sit through the summer without filing cloture.

Who Are the Swing Votes?

What Happened Right Before the September 15 Vote?

Days before the vote, the White House agreed to new ethics language barring public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets while in office, enforceable by state attorneys general and the Department of Justice. 

On September 14, Senate Republicans released a final bill draft with 126 changes Democrats had requested on ethics, stablecoin rewards, developer liability, and prediction markets. Within hours, banking groups, several Democratic senators, state attorneys general, and developer advocates rejected parts of that compromise, and two Republicans were seen as possible defectors over stablecoin yield language.

The Senate filed cloture on August 8, 2026, setting up the vote for 2:15 p.m. ET on September 15. Odds trackers disagreed sharply: Polymarket’s bill-specific contract sat at 25-26% on September 13, while its broader 2026-passage contract had fallen to 16% by September 6, and Galaxy Research put the odds as low as 10%. 

Lummis has warned a failed vote could push the next realistic shot to 2030, though it would not kill the bill outright. House leaders have also canceled eight voting days in late September, leaving little room to act on any Senate changes before year’s end.

Note on timing: As of the most recent reporting available, the vote had not yet occurred. Readers checking this after 2:15 p.m. ET on September 15 should confirm whether cloture passed or failed, since that determines whether the bill proceeds to debate this year or stalls for the rest of this Congress.

Conclusion

Four committees and roughly a dozen swing-vote senators now determine the shape of U.S. crypto market structure law. The House built bipartisan consensus; the Senate rewrote the details on stablecoin yield, DeFi, and ethics. The September 15 cloture vote decides whether that work continues this year or waits for the next Congress.

Resources

Report by CoinDesk: Clarity Act, in the flesh, unveiled by U.S. Senate Banking Committee before hearingAnalysis by Davis Wright Tremaine: Senate Banking Committee advances crypto market structure billReport by Bloomberg: Long-stalled crypto bill wins key Senate committee voteGuide by Sumsub: What is the CLARITY Act? Full guide to US crypto regulationReport by CoinTracking: The CLARITY Act, explainedReport by Disruption Banking: CLARITY Act update, where the crypto market structure bill stands right nowReport by Yahoo Finance: CLARITY Act fate hinges on Senate debate voteFact sheet by DeFi Rate: CLARITY Act updates, Sept. 15 Senate vote, odds of passingReport by Crypto.news: CLARITY Act faces delay as House cuts September sessionsReport by Political.org: White House agrees to new ethics language in Clarity Act ahead of critical Senate cloture voteOverview by Wikipedia: United States House Committee on Financial ServicesPress release by Rep. French Hill’s office: Rep. French Hill introduces bipartisan Digital Asset Market Structure legislationOverview by Wikipedia: United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and ForestryReport by CNBC: Senate panel passes crypto CFTC regulation billReport by TheStreet: Senate votes Tuesday on advancing CLARITY ActReport by CryptoSlate: CLARITY Act’s “final” deal is already breaking down before Tuesday’s Senate voteReport by CNBC: Crypto CLARITY Act faces crucial Senate vote as Democrats urge changesReport by StartupFortune: The Senate votes Tuesday on the CLARITY Act, and the odds look grim