The House will now return to Washington on Sept. 14 for what is expected to be a four-day session before leaving the capital until after the midterm elections, according to Roll Call.
The timing could create a major obstacle for the market structure bill. The Senate is scheduled to return from its August recess on Sept. 14 and is expected to hold an initial vote on the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15. However, even if the legislation clears the Senate, the House would still need to pass the Senate-approved version before it gets signed into law.
He claims that the shortened House schedule could push a CLARITY Act vote into the post-election “lame duck” period, when the makeup of Congress could be set to change.
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, likewise said the shortened September session makes it "extremely unlikely" that CLARITY will pass before the midterm elections.
The Senate has roughly three weeks of legislative session between Sept. 15 and the first week of October, but the House’s shortened schedule leaves little time for the chambers to act in sequence.
The House’s decision comes as lawmakers face increasing pressure to return home and campaign ahead of the midterm elections. Roll Call reported that Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican lawmakers scrapped the final two weeks of September, with the chamber now expected to remain out through the election.
A delay until after the midterms could introduce fresh uncertainty over the bill’s prospects (considering that the Democrats are likely to win the House).
Stumbling in the Senate
The House passed its version of the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by 294-134, giving the legislation a remarkably large bipartisan margin. The problem is that the Senate did not simply take up the House bill.
Senate Banking and Senate Agriculture have worked on their own approaches and amendments, and the bill needs votes from a total of 60 senators.
The two chambers will still have to resolve differences before the bill becomes law.
