Seven Senate Democrats voted Nay on the Senate’s September 15 cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, according to the chamber’s official roll call. Preceding this, CLARITY Act champion Senator Lummis said if it failed its first vote, they were ‘done.’
A day later, the same seven declared themselves committed to passing the bill.
The Record Is Clear
Senate Roll Call Vote 234, taken at 2:19 p.m. ET on September 15, lists each of the seven by name against the bill’s cloture motion, the procedural step that needed 60 votes to advance debate and fell to 49.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), the bill’s lead sponsor, had already warned that failure would end the fight, telling reporters, “I think we’re done. It’s over.”
The next day, the same seven senators issued a joint statement striking a different tone.
“We remain committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to get this legislation passed.”
Not a New Position, a Repeated One
That statement is not a first-time reversal. Six of the seven, plus Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) in Gillibrand’s place, issued nearly identical language in July, calling an earlier Republican draft insufficient on ethics and consumer protection while pledging to keep working toward a deal.
The pattern holds: oppose the specific text on the floor, while publicly keeping the door open to a future version.
Republicans reject that framing. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer accused the bloc of saying one thing publicly and voting another way, pointing to Gillibrand’s appearance at a Digital Chamber panel in March, where she said she wanted the US to lead the industry.
What This Means for CLARITY Act
Whether the CLARITY Act is dead or merely paused now depends on whose framing holds. Republicans control the floor calendar and have not scheduled another vote.
The seven Democrats have offered no new text and no timeline, only a repeat of language they have used before, leaving the bill’s fate exactly where Tuesday’s vote left it.
