The Senate Banking Committee has officially scheduled a hearing on the CLARITY Act for Thursday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott announced this date on Friday evening. According to the committee memo, the final legislative text is expected to be released on Monday, and senators must submit amendments by the close of business on Tuesday.
This vote comes nearly four months after the Senate first reviewed the banking bill. The bill was withdrawn in January after industry leaders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, raised last-minute objections, arguing that it granted excessive privileges to banks and could effectively eliminate consumer stablecoin reward programs.
The final resistance of the banking lobbying group
Not everyone is satisfied with this. On Friday, the banking industry association sent a letter to Senate banking leadership, pointing out that the current compromise on stablecoin yields still contains loopholes that could allow reward programs to replicate interest payments. These associations seek further revisions to the proposal to prevent stablecoins from functioning like interest-bearing bank accounts.
Over the weekend, Rob Nichols, Chairman of the American Bankers Association, sent an email directly to the CEOs of member banks, urging them to take immediate action. He encouraged them to call Senate offices, mobilize their staff, and submit letters through an online lobbying platform before Thursday’s vote.
A Senate aide who reviewed the letter described the effort as... U.S. cryptocurrency critics called it "rather mild," noting that lawmakers on both sides have largely shifted their focus to addressing ethics provisions rather than revisiting the yield debate.
The Democratic Party's issue
The biggest unknown on Thursday is whether Democratic members of the committee will vote in favor.
Senators Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego have consistently advocated for the establishment of ethical provisions addressing conflicts of interest related to the Trump administration and its family’s cryptocurrency transactions. Schiff has taken a particularly firm stance on this issue, while Gallego has broadly supported advancing the bill, though his final voting position remains unclear.
Another important DeFi negotiator, Senator Mark Warner, will also be someone to watch on Thursday.
Why is this important?
The bill could pass in committee through a purely partisan vote. But this path is risky. Alex Thorn, Research Director at Galaxy Digital, told Crypto In America that if the bill passes the committee with votes solely from Republicans, it will likely face greater difficulty securing the 60 votes needed for passage in the full Senate.
Thorn said: "Although the bill could still pass if it moves forward along party lines in the Senate Banking Committee, the likelihood of it ultimately passing in the Senate will certainly decrease if no Democrats vote in favor during Thursday's committee deliberations."
Others were less concerned, pointing out that it was the bipartisan effort that kept the bill moving forward despite multiple near-collapses.