Senator Cynthia Lummis Says the Clarity Act Risks a 4-Year Delay

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) warns that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) faces a potential four-year legislative freeze if the Senate does not act before the 2026 midterm elections.

Her post arrives one day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent published an op-ed demanding the same urgency.

Why the Urgency Matters Now

Lummis has been the CLARITY Act’s most prominent Senate champion since its inception. She chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Digital Assets and has repeatedly framed the bill as essential to preventing regulatory uncertainty from pushing crypto firms overseas.

This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future,” Lummis said in a post.

The warning carries added weight given that Lummis announced in December 2025 that she will not seek a second term.

She cited the physical and mental demands of another six-year commitment.

Her current term ends in January 2027, making this legislative push a defining moment in her Senate career.

A Coordinated Washington Push and What Stands in the Way

Lummis is not alone. Her remarks came after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others from within President Donald Trump’s inner circle said action is needed now.

Bessent warned that regulatory ambiguity had already driven crypto development to jurisdictions with clearer rules, including Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Despite broad executive branch support, several obstacles remain. The bill’s core stablecoin yield dispute has a framework in place following the Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise from March 20.

That deal bans passive yield on stablecoin balances but permits activity-based rewards.

However, the legislation still faces five sequential hurdles before reaching the president’s desk. Those include:

• A Banking Committee markup,
• A 60-vote Senate floor threshold, and
• Reconciliation with the House version passed in July 2025.
• Reconciliation with the Senate Agriculture Committee version (which advanced its own draft in January 2026)
• Presidential signature from Trump

Democratic senators continue to push for ethics language barring government officials from profiting off personal crypto ventures.

The White House has resisted those demands.

The Senate returns from Easter recess on April 13. Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee plan to initiate the markup process in late April.

If that window closes without action, analysts warn that the bill could effectively be dead until at least 2027, as midterm campaign pressures consume the remaining legislative calendar.

On prediction markets, traders currently assign a 56% probability that Trump will sign the CLARITY Act into law before the end of 2026.