TLDR
- Senate Democrats sent a counterproposal to Republicans on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act late Monday
- The bill faces a critical procedural vote Tuesday requiring 60 Senate votes to advance
- Key Democrat concerns center on ethics provisions affecting government officials’ crypto business ties
- Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis says she has made 114 policy concessions and her “tank is empty”
- White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said changes are down to “punctuation at this point”
Senate Democrats are pushing back on what Republicans called their final offer on major crypto market structure legislation, sending a counterproposal just hours before a key vote.
🇺🇸 UPDATE: Democrats REJECT the latest CLARITY Act draft over ethics concerns and are preparing a counterproposal.
Industry sources tell Eleanor Terrett they expect the counterproposal to address most, if not all, of the targeted changes Republicans made to the bill last night.… https://t.co/KtDGbjp6se
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 15, 2026
Democrats and Republicans Clash Over Ethics Provisions
Senate Democrats met in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office on Monday before sending a counterproposal to the Republican-drafted Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Senator Mark Warner confirmed the move as he left the meeting.
The main sticking point is the bill’s ethics language. Democrats say the current version would block state attorneys general from suing the president directly. They also object to a provision allowing the Office of Government Ethics to let senior officials keep their crypto business ties.
Republicans had described their latest draft, circulated Sunday, as their “last, best and final offer.” Senator Cynthia Lummis said Democrats have been asking for more throughout the entire negotiation.
“The Democrats want more,” Lummis said at a Washington event Monday. “They always want more. If we waited another month, they would want more.”
Lummis said she tallied 114 individual policy concessions made to Democrats during negotiations. She described giving up ground on legal protections for decentralized finance developers as a major personal concession.
She said President Trump agreed to a second round of ethics constraints on himself and other officials, which surprised her. But she made clear she has nothing left to offer.
“This is as good as it’s going to get,” she said. “My tank is empty.”
Tuesday Vote Needs 60 Senators to Pass
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, speaking at a Monday event in Washington, said Republicans had already gone to great lengths to address Democrat objections.
“If there are any changes, we’re talking about punctuation at this point,” Witt said. He acknowledged the final decision rests with senators, not the White House.
The procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday afternoon requires 60 votes to advance the bill to full Senate debate. If it passes, several more votes would follow before the bill could move to the House.
Industry groups are watching closely. The Blockchain Association called for passage, saying rules are needed to protect consumers and deter fraud. Other groups, including a multistate coalition of state attorneys general, opposed the vote without further changes.
Major banking associations also continued to push for revisions to stablecoin yield language ahead of any vote.
Even optimistic lobbyists at Monday’s industry events described the chances of clearing Tuesday’s vote as narrow.
