Senate Floor Plan Shows No Immediate Action on CLARITY Act

The Senate’s published floor plan for Monday contains no action on the CLARITY Act. Instead, senators are due to reconvene at 3 p.m., with the only listed roll-call vote at about 5:30 p.m. on cloture for the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, a continuing-resolution vehicle.

The chamber’s cloture ledger, updated through July 31, likewise shows the July 30 filing on H.R. 6500 but no entry for H.R. 3633 or the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. That does not kill the crypto market-structure bill, but it leaves leaders without a publicly listed floor path while the Senate’s tentative calendar approaches an Aug. 10 state work period.

Under the Senate’s ordinary Rule XXII, a cloture petition needs 16 signatures. The cloture question normally comes one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one. Cloture on a motion to proceed generally requires three-fifths of senators duly chosen and sworn, normally 60 votes when all 100 seats are filled.

A Wednesday, Aug. 5, filing could therefore produce a Friday cloture vote if the Senate is in session for the filing and meets Friday. That vote would concern ending debate on the motion to proceed, not passing CLARITY. If cloture is invoked, Rule XXII allows up to 30 hours on the motion before a vote to proceed. The bill would then still require consideration and passage and could face another cloture hurdle.

Leadership has faster options. A special bipartisan petition requires the two leaders, seven additional senators not affiliated with the majority and seven additional senators not affiliated with the minority among its 16 signers. The cloture question comes one hour after the chamber meets on the next calendar day. If cloture is invoked, the Senate votes on proceeding without further debate. A unanimous-consent agreement could also compress the schedule, though any senator could object.

The exact vehicle remains open. H.R. 3633 is the House-passed CLARITY Act, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis called her July 22 merged Banking-Agriculture proposal updated H.R. 3633 text. The current floor notice and cloture ledger do not say whether that text would move as H.R. 3633, an amendment or another vehicle.

The vote count is unsettled as well. Seven Democratic negotiators, Catherine Cortez Masto, Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock, said the draft fell short while committing to continued negotiations. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has opposed the revised bill. Axios reported that Majority Leader John Thune expected a procedural vote before the recess only if enough Democrats supported moving ahead.

The next decisive signal is procedural: leaders must identify the vehicle and either file ordinary cloture by Wednesday for a possible Friday vote, assemble the bipartisan petition, or secure unanimous consent. Any new filing or leadership notice would change the picture.