CLARITY Act needs 7 Democratic votes — and June is running…

Senate Banking cleared the CLARITY Act 15-9 on May 14, and the White House is now targeting a July 4 signing — but the floor math is unforgiving. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats; cloture requires 60, meaning the bill needs at least 7 Democratic or independent votes. Only two Democratic senators, Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, backed it in committee, leaving five more votes still needed.

Three fault lines threaten to hold those votes back: Democratic staff say AML provisions leave illicit-finance loopholes around sanctions and mixers; ethics demands would bar political officials from profiting on crypto ventures they help shape; and banking trade groups warn that stablecoin reward language could pull deposits from community lenders — giving Democratic holdouts a conventional-finance rationale on top of the AML and ethics objections.

The calendar pressure is real.