Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on college sports legislation, spending bills, and judicial nominations Wednesday. The CLARITY Act was nowhere on that list. Skipping the procedural filing means the crypto market structure bill loses its key countdown before the August recess, and negotiations over stablecoin rewards and ethics provisions remain stuck.
Cloture on a motion to proceed requires 60 votes, forcing Republicans to cut a deal with Democrats or watch the bill stall. Thune didn't move. Instead, he prioritized the Protect College Sports Act, a signal crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett flagged immediately: no bipartisan agreement yet. The omission doesn't kill the bill outright, but it sharply narrows the runway. Senators leave town soon, and the calendar fills fast.
Thune later said the crypto measure hadn't been abandoned, describing the delay as a scheduling issue rather than a setback. "We're sequencing it, but there are some things still out there that we want to do," he told reporters. He also reaffirmed expectations that market structure legislation will eventually get a vote, though he stopped short of guaranteeing a pre-recess floor action.
Time running short for 2026 passage
The real pressure sits elsewhere. Traders on Kalshi, a prediction market, priced passage before July 1, 2027, at just 41%. That number captures the reality on the ground: a crowded Senate schedule, unresolved technical disputes, and a narrow window closing fast. If this bill doesn't move in the next few weeks, it rolls into next year, where new congressional dynamics and competing priorities could derail it entirely.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or legislative advice.
