The most ambitious crypto market structure bill to ever clear a Senate committee now faces a familiar obstacle: Democrats who voted for it still aren’t fully on board.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) has publicly flagged concerns shared by many in her party about the ethics and illicit finance provisions in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, better known as the CLARITY Act. Alsobrooks was one of only two Democrats who actually voted to advance the bill out of the Senate Banking Committee. She helped push it forward, and now she’s setting conditions for what happens next.
A 15-9 vote with asterisks
The Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act on May 14-15, 2026, with a 15-9 vote. Only two Democrats, Alsobrooks and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), crossed party lines to support the measure. The other nine members who voted against it were all Democrats.
Alsobrooks has made clear that her committee vote was not a blank check. Her support for moving the bill to a full Senate vote depends on further negotiations, specifically around law enforcement tools and ethics stipulations that would limit personal investment opportunities for government officials in digital assets.
