Rushed CLARITY Act vote could set legislation back, Gallego says
Senator Ruben Gallego warned that a rushed CLARITY Act vote in the Senate could push U.S. crypto market structure legislation backward, not forward. He said ethics and stablecoin yield disputes remain unresolved as a September vote nears, and that premature action could miss the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill.
Key Takeaways
- Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego said a fast Senate vote on the CLARITY Act could deliver the wrong result and set the package back.
- Gallego and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis sent bipartisan ethics language to the White House before recess and have not received point-by-point feedback.
- President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass a “fair version” of the market structure bill to keep the United States “ahead of China.”
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the chamber was “punting” the vote until after recess; Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited a Sept. 15 cloture motion.
What did Gallego say about a rushed CLARITY Act vote?
Speaking Wednesday at the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Gallego argued that anyone tracking U.S. crypto regulation should want Senate Democrats and Republicans to keep negotiating rather than force an immediate floor fight. He said lawmakers still must finish the Agriculture Committee portion, assemble the broader package, and decide how to send it back to the House.
A procedural vote could arrive before negotiators have the bipartisan coalition needed for the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. “Don’t go for a fast vote,” Gallego said, according to Cointelegraph. “A fast vote gets you a fast result, but I’m not sure it’s the result you want.” He added that “any premature movement is going to set it back further.”
Why hasn’t the White House answered the ethics proposal?
Gallego said he and Tillis submitted compromise ethics language before the congressional recess. Strong restrictions, he argued, are required to attract Democratic support. “We’ve been sending offers over and over again to the White House, and they’ve been coming back either blank, or they’ve come back even slightly further back, or we’ve heard nothing,” he said. Cointelegraph said the White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Responding to Trump’s call for a “fair version” of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, Gallego said he thought the president meant language that is “fair to him.” He added that it is not the president’s place alone to set the ethics limits: Congress, the Senate, and then the White House must agree, and “the president doesn’t just get to decide what level of regulation he gets.”
How does Trump’s push line up with the Senate calendar?
Trump spoke Wednesday from the White House with crypto executives including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. He urged members of Congress to pass a fair version of the bill to keep the country “ahead of China.” The House passed the measure in July 2025. It has stalled in the Senate for months over tokenized equities, stablecoin rewards, and the Trump family’s potential conflicts of interest with the industry.
Armstrong said the bill would make U.S. crypto policy “durable into the future” and speculated it could have “more than 60 votes” once the Senate takes up a cloture motion on Sept. 15. Trump replied that the effort is “very bipartisan” and that a “lot of Democrats support” it. On Aug. 7, Thune told Cointelegraph the Senate was punting the vote and would queue CLARITY “first thing” after recess. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt has said the administration will negotiate with Democrats until the September vote but “can’t afford to wait forever.”
Could regulators move without the CLARITY Act?
Executives’ remarks came a day before a Commodity Futures Trading Commission Innovation Advisory Committee meeting. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency would explore advancing crypto regulations because Congress would not return for another month. The same week, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed crypto rules that include a safe harbor from treating tokens as “investment contracts” and certain exemptions for token issuance. Those steps do not replace Senate action, but they show Washington is not waiting on a rushed CLARITY Act vote.