Thune leaves CLARITY Act off cloture list, weekend vote fades

The CLARITY Act's weekend Senate vote faded Thursday after Majority Leader John Thune filed no procedural motion to bring the crypto market structure bill to the floor.

Thune's cloture filings Wednesday covered a substitute amendment to H.R. 6500, the continuing-resolution vehicle, and Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general. He also filed on the motion to proceed to S. 4668, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026. The CLARITY Act was not on the list.

Without a cloture filing, leadership cannot begin the process that limits debate and moves a measure toward a floor vote. The omission made a weekend procedural vote increasingly difficult, even with senators expected in Washington beyond Friday.

The chamber reconvenes at 10:00 a.m. Thursday to resume consideration of nominations under Senate Resolution 817, the Senate Daily Press said. Roll-call votes were expected, though none had been scheduled.

The procedural gap came while Republicans and Democrats, with the White House still engaged, kept negotiating unresolved provisions. Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters that administration officials had begun examining parts of the proposed language.

"We've got people working with the White House right now… they're going through some of the lines right now," Tillis said.

Ethics restrictions involving senior federal officials remain one of the largest barriers. Lawmakers have also discussed provisions on illicit finance, decentralized finance, stablecoin rewards and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority.

Getting the bill to a vote requires 60 senators to invoke cloture. Republicans do not hold that number, so a bipartisan agreement must come before leadership schedules floor time. The bill also sits behind government funding legislation and nominations already in the procedural queue.