LIVE: CLARITY Act fails Senate cloture vote

The U.S. Senate held the much-awaited procedural cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Sep. 15. But it failed to secure sufficient votes today. 49 senators - all Democrats and a few Republicans - voted against the bill, ending any prospect for legislative work on CLARITY in the Senate this year. It required 60 affirmative votes to advance the bill but only 50 senators voted yes. Since Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, at least seven Democrats also needed to vote in favor of it aye if every Republican voted to advance the bill. Cloture wouldn’t have passed the bill. But it would have ended the debate on the motion to proceed and cleared the way for the Senate to formally take up the legislation. Related: Ripple CEO sends bold message on Bessent’s CLARITY call Lummis asks senators to vote yes for America to 'lead' Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of the most pro-crypto voices among the lawmakers, said she has spent every single day of the past year fighting to get the CLARITY Act ready for prime time. "Wyoming did not send me to Washington to watch America fall behind. My state sent me here to make sure we lead." She claimed that the Democrat senators secured 126 concessions in the bill's text wrote more than half of the 630 pages. "Nowhere, absolutely nowhere, have we given more on ethics, more than on ethics in this bill," she said to address the primary concern of the Democrats who are very critical of President Donald Trump's crypto businesses. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, speaks during the CoinDesk 2022 Consensus Festival in Austin, Texas, US. President Trump voluntarily put himself, the vice president, every judge, federally elected official, and their spouses under the strictest ethics restrictions in July, she added. The Wyoming senator said the Democrats keep demanding more and the Republicans listened but they (Democrats) are still not satisfied. "Let's be honest about what a no vote actually is today. It's not a principled stand against the president. It's not a vote against a bill that has had a partisan flair. It's a vote to protect politicians' personal crypto holdings from the very limits Democrats demanded and got. Lummis urged the senators to vote yes today. "Let's not only join the 21st century economy. Let's not only join the digital age. Let's lead it. Let's define it. Let's make it work for America and the world. Let's vote yes. Warren issues 'Great Depression' warning on CLARITY Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), well-known for her sharp criticism of the crypto industry and President Donald Trump's crypto wealth, stuck to her stance and asked the Senate members to vote no on the CLARITY Act.