CLARITY Act faces delay as House Republicans cut September voting schedule

House Republicans have shortened their September 2026 voting schedule, cutting eight legislative days and leaving only four voting days before departing on September 17. This calendar change severely threatens the passage of the CLARITY Act before the November midterm elections. Although the Senate plans a key procedural vote on September 15, any amended Senate bill would require House approval. Industry experts place the pre-midterm passage odds at just 10%, though a post-election lame-duck session remains a possibility.

House September calendar cuts

• ▪House Republican leaders canceled votes for the weeks of Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, 2026, cutting eight previously scheduled legislative days.
• ▪Under the revised schedule, the House of Representatives will return on Sept. 14, 2026, for four voting days before departing on Sept. 17, 2026, until after the November 2026 midterm elections.
• ▪House Majority Whip Tom Emmer's office notified Republican members of the calendar changes, which did not explicitly cite the CLARITY Act.

Senate procedural vote timing

• ▪Senate Republicans cannot reach the 60-vote threshold for the CLARITY Act without Democratic support, with negotiations covering issues like stablecoin rewards and anti-money laundering.
• ▪The Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on Sept. 15, 2026, to begin formal consideration of the CLARITY Act, requiring support from at least 60 senators.
• ▪Clearing the Sept. 15, 2026 cloture vote would allow the Senate to begin debate and propose amendments, rather than representing final passage of the CLARITY Act.

House-Senate reconciliation requirements

• ▪The House of Representatives passed its version of the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) in July 2025 by a bipartisan vote of 294-134.
• ▪If the Senate passes an amended CLARITY Act, the House of Representatives must either approve the Senate's changes or negotiate a unified draft with the Senate.
• ▪Because the Senate is working on amended language for the CLARITY Act, any version it passes must match the legislation approved by the House of Representatives before reaching President Donald Trump.

Digital asset oversight framework

• ▪A key dispute in Senate negotiations over the CLARITY Act involves stablecoin rewards, with the Senate text proposing to bar payments based solely on holding a stablecoin balance.
• ▪The House-passed version of the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) divides oversight of the U.S. digital asset market between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• ▪The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Regulation Crypto Assets in August 2026, a 402-page framework offering fundraising exemptions and a safe harbor for decentralized tokens independent of the CLARITY Act.
• ▪Banks argue that activity-based stablecoin rewards would allow crypto platforms to offer bank-like returns without meeting capital requirements, while crypto firms argue a strict ban would harm competition.

Post-midterm passage uncertainty

• ▪Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn stated that the shortened House schedule makes passage of the CLARITY Act before the November 2026 midterm elections extremely unlikely.
• ▪Solana Policy Institute CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine placed the probability of the CLARITY Act becoming law before the November 2026 midterms at 10%.
• ▪Polymarket prediction market traders priced the probability of the CLARITY Act becoming law by Dec. 31, 2026, at approximately 18% to 20%.
• ▪Ripple Head of Policy Lauren Belive argued that the CLARITY Act could still be taken up by the House of Representatives during a post-election lame-duck session.

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