Trump fails to break CLARITY Act deadlock as new text slips again

President Donald Trump has failed to unlock the stalled CLARITY Act after meeting Senate Republicans, with no revised text released and Polymarket traders cutting its 2026 passage odds to 32%.

Journalist Eleanor Terrett reported on X that the updated bill remained unavailable after Thursday’s White House meeting, where Trump and Republican senators discussed ethics rules tied to the legislation. Industry leaders now expect the text to arrive next week, according to Terrett, extending a delay around one of Washington’s most closely watched crypto bills.

“Updated legislative text remains elusive following yesterday’s meeting between President Trump and Senate Republicans on ethics,” Terrett wrote.

Before the meeting, Republican senators had suggested the draft could emerge shortly after their talks with Trump. Sen. Bernie Moreno told reporters that lawmakers would release the plan once the president received a briefing, adding that journalists would have “a lot of reading to do.”

Moreno is still seeking a Senate vote before the August recess, according to Terrett. Sen. Cynthia Lummis also expressed hope that the language would become public after the White House discussion, although she did not offer a firm timetable.

Passage odds have fallen to 32%

Polymarket traders have lowered the probability of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 to 32% as Republicans and Democrats remain divided over the bill’s ethics provisions. The prediction-market decline has followed growing doubt over whether senators can secure enough bipartisan support to advance the measure.

In New York, the House Financial Services Committee’s Republican members are scheduled to hold a hearing at 10 a.m. ET on the legislation’s potential role in digital-asset development, according to Terrett. She noted that the event is informational and will not influence the Senate’s review of the bill.

The House passed its version of the CLARITY Act in 2025, but Senate negotiators have been working on separate language covering crypto market rules. Any final measure would need enough support to clear the Senate before lawmakers could reconcile it with the House bill.

Democratic ethics demands remain the main barrier

Sen. Ruben Gallego, one of the leading Democratic negotiators, told POLITICO that Republicans had presented ethics language his party could not support. Gallego linked the dispute to Trump’s business interests in the crypto sector and warned that the proposal would not attract the Democratic votes needed for passage.

“At the end of the day, we don’t have strong ethics,” Gallego said. “I don’t care what the president says. You’re not going to have the Democratic votes.”

After reviewing the Republican proposal, Gallego described it as “very weak,” arguing that it gave the president considerable freedom while offering limited consumer protections. A Democratic Senate aide also told POLITICO that the plan taken to the White House fell short of what Democrats would accept.

According to the same aide, Democratic lawmakers had neither reviewed nor approved the draft discussed during Thursday’s talks. The lack of agreement has left Republicans unable to present the delayed text as a bipartisan proposal.

Sen. Cory Booker has maintained that negotiations remain active, telling reporters that bipartisan cooperation is the only route to completing the legislation. Booker also indicated that negotiators should finish those discussions before releasing a new draft, leaving the publication date and Senate vote schedule unresolved.