Tilllis Says CLARITY's Ethics Compromise Is 'Not Quite There' — Senate Still Squinting in the Dark 🧐

The Senate's latest push to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act stumbled again on July 21, 2026, as Senator Thom Tillis told reporters the bipartisan ethics agreement negotiated by the White House, Senator Cynthia Lummis and Senator Bernie Moreno remains unfinished. "Not quite there," Tillis said after a closed-door briefing with staff, according to Punchbowl News reporter Brendan Pedersen.

The ethics text has not been released to the public, to most Senate Republicans, or to any Senate Democrats, leaving the chamber to evaluate a bill it cannot yet read. Tillis's objections centered on the scope of exemptions written into the proposal, and Pedersen reported that the senator's concerns were not directed at the White House but at the carve-outs themselves.

The development marks a fresh obstacle for legislation that has cycled through several drafts and ethics revisions in an effort to draw bipartisan support. With the underlying text still under wraps, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have limited ability to weigh in formally, and the timeline for a floor vote is unclear.

Staff are expected to continue working through the outstanding issues, though no date has been set for a revised draft or another member-level briefing. The CLARITY Act, which aims to delineate regulatory authority over digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, remains in limbo pending resolution of the ethics provisions.