Digital asset bill clears Banking Committee 15-9 as Senate Democrats split on CLARITY Act

Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis, R-Wyo., the Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets chair who has shepherded the legislation since 2022, called Thursday's committee vote "a historic step forward for digital asset innovation" and credited colleagues on both sides of the aisle "who chose to put American leadership ahead of politics."

Gallego voted yes but drew a clear line: "We have many outstanding issues still to resolve. Toughest and most critical of all is coming to an agreement on ethics guardrails for elected officials. This remains my focus moving forward." Warner, voting no, said he "strongly believe[s] Congress needs to act" but that outstanding issues — particularly around illicit finance and ethics — mean "we should take the time necessary to get the details right."

Cortez Masto called it "disappointing" that her "commonsense fixes discussed among stakeholders and supported by police and prosecutors nationwide weren't adopted today." Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., also voted no, arguing the bill could leave consumers "with fewer protections and remedies than they have under current law" and warning that "the consequences of getting this wrong could extend far beyond the digital asset industry itself."

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who voted yes, highlighted a specific provision he secured: language in Section 205 preserving state authority to enforce consumer protection laws against cryptocurrency kiosk ATM scams. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who voted against advancing the bill in committee, said he "put forward provisions to modernize our counter terrorism financing and money laundering controls" and that the bill "fell short of what we're capable of delivering but I look forward to seeing how it can improve before it comes before the full Senate for a final vote."

With the Supreme Court's administrative stay in Louisiana v. FDA set to expire, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led the full Senate Democratic caucus Thursday in reintroducing a resolution affirming that mifepristone is safe and effective and that related law and policy must be "equitable, transparent, and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science."

The resolution — also led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Tammy Baldwin, Ron Wyden, Patty Murray, and Tina Smith — was endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the ACLU, and more than a dozen other organizations. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., noted that without Court action the Fifth Circuit's ruling would threaten millions of women's access to mifepristone "even in states where abortion is legal."

The coordinated rollout — every Senate Democrat on a single release — represents one of the more unified messaging pushes in the input set for this date.

Three Republican senators converged Thursday on the push to protect minors from social media harms. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., chaired a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing examining recent verdicts against Meta and calling for passage of her Kids Online Safety Act, using Zuckerberg's own company documents to challenge his prior congressional testimony. "Meta's record when it comes to protecting children online is indefensible," Blackburn said. "These court cases alone are not enough, because while courts can punish past harms, it is up to Congress to prevent future harm to our children."

Blackburn alleged that despite Zuckerberg testifying in 2024 that "the existing body of scientific work has not shown a cause or a link between using social media and young people having worse mental health outcomes," Meta held an internal document titled "Known negative effects of Facebook and/or social media in general, on teens." She also cited a company document showing "four million children under the age of 13 on Instagram alone in 2015" — directly contradicting Zuckerberg's sworn statement that underage users were not allowed on the service.

Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., speaking at a separate Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, addressed the parents of children who died from online dangers. "To any lawmaker that stands to shield these profit-over-protection companies from accountability for the harm they've brought to our children: get out of the way," Moody said. Moody is a cosponsor of the Kids Online Safety Act and her James T. Woods Act targeting sextortion perpetrators has already cleared the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., reintroduced the Patients Before Monopolies Act Thursday, a bill that would prohibit the parent company of a pharmacy benefit manager or insurer from owning a pharmacy business. Companies in violation would have one year to divest and face automatic penalties — including disgorgement of profits — for noncompliance.

"PBMs are at the center of a broken system that rewards middlemen while driving up costs for patients and pushing out independent pharmacies," said Hawley. Warren framed the reintroduction as part of a broader effort: "Our PBM Act is gaining momentum because people are realizing that you can't lower health care costs without tackling corporate greed in the health care system."

The bill follows the pair's recent introduction of the Break Up Big Medicine Act targeting broader healthcare consolidation. The legislation would authorize the FTC, HHS, DOJ, and state attorneys general to bring divestiture lawsuits, and would allow private parties including independent pharmacists to seek treble damages.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., introduced the LNG Export Security Act Thursday, which would amend the Natural Gas Act to define "public interest" — a term the Biden-era Department of Energy used in 2023 to pause LNG exports to non-free-trade-agreement countries. The bill specifies that "public interest" must account for domestic natural gas facility development, domestic economic interests, and national security.

"America's energy producers shouldn't work in fear that a future administration could kneecap them with burdensome restrictions at a moment's notice due to ambiguous laws," said Cornyn. Fetterman connected the bill directly to his state: "LNG has played a critical role in promoting America's energy independence and global leadership. That kind of energy dominance starts in Pennsylvania."

The bill is endorsed by the American Exploration & Production Council and the Center for LNG.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced the Banning Lobbying And Safeguarding Trust Act Thursday — a bill that would replace existing cooling-off periods for former members of Congress with a permanent ban on lobbying contacts. Current law allows former House members to lobby after one year and former senators after two years.

"It's simple: Members of Congress should spend their time in Washington serving the American people, not preparing to cash in big time with a cushy lobbying career after they leave office," said Warren. The bill would also close a loophole Warren's office says is commonly used to lobby without triggering registration requirements.

In a floor speech Thursday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed colleagues to act on National Flood Insurance Program reform with hurricane season less than three weeks away. Cassidy cited the Biden-era Risk Rating 2.0 policy — implemented by FEMA without a congressional authorization he said was never granted — as the driver of premium increases that caused 70,000 Louisiana residents to drop coverage between 2022 and 2024, and another 52,000 in the year following.

"Every year, more and more people have to drop their National Flood Insurance Program coverage because it is too expensive and too unreliable, so this is about making flood insurance affordable again," said Cassidy. He framed the lapse as a matter of basic family economics: residents choosing "between paying their mortgage, buying food, taking care of their kids, and having flood insurance."

Two senators on the Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee took divergent approaches to HUD Secretary Scott Turner at Thursday's FY2027 budget hearing. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who chairs the subcommittee, pressed Turner on incorporating mass timber as a mainstream building material to lower housing construction costs and timelines. "Mass timber multifamily housing is demonstrating an ability to lower construction costs and reduce the time it takes to build, which makes it an ideal approach for helping increase affordable housing production," Hyde-Smith said. She also expressed concern that the administration's proposed elimination of the Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs lacked sufficient deliberation.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair of the full Appropriations Committee, pressed Turner on HUD's delays in renewing Continuum of Care grants and challenged the administration's "housing first" skepticism directly. "All of the data, all of the research shows that economic factors are driving homelessness," Murray said. "Housing first isn't housing only. There's case management, there is substance use, there is mental health, there's employment services. That's all part of the housing first model too, which you're ignoring."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., introduced the bipartisan Moms Matter Act Thursday alongside Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. The bill would establish two grant programs targeting maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders, and fund efforts to grow and diversify the maternal healthcare workforce.

"More women in the United States die from pregnancy-related complications than in any of our peer countries. That is downright shameful," said Gillibrand. The release notes that mental health conditions and substance use disorders are the leading cause of preventable maternal death in the United States, and that in New York, the maternal mortality rate for Black women is more than four times that for white women.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Terminating Restrictive Enforcement of Youth Settlements Act — known as TREY's Law — unanimously Thursday. The bill voids non-disclosure agreements that silence survivors of child sexual abuse and is named for Trey Carlock, who died by suicide at 28 after being silenced by an NDA following abuse at a Kanakuk Ministries camp.

Sens. Gillibrand and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led the bill together. "We also have a responsibility to stand with children who have endured sexual abuse and protect their right to share their stories," Cruz said. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., a lead sponsor, said she looks forward to "continuing working with him to get this passed in the Senate, eventually the House of Representatives, and to President Trump's desk to be signed into law." The Judiciary Committee also unanimously advanced the Officer John Barnes and Chief Michael Ansbro Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program Expansion Act, a Gillibrand-Cruz bill that would require the Bureau of Justice Assistance to complete benefit eligibility determinations within 270 days.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a Pentagon response Thursday that she says reveals interference with the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes — the military's independent newspaper. According to Warren's office, the Pentagon's response was prepared the same day the Department fired the paper's ombudsman, its designated advocate for independence.

"While America is at war, the Trump administration is hellbent on silencing our key military newspaper and attacking service members' access to the free press. Every American should be concerned about this blatant censorship," said Warren. The letter prompting the response was co-signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Ruben Gallego, Tammy Duckworth, Mazie Hirono, and Mark Kelly.

The Senate passed Sen. John Kennedy's S.Res.526 by voice vote Thursday, requiring the Secretary of the Senate to withhold senators' pay during government shutdowns. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., a cosponsor, welcomed the passage but flagged its limits.

"As I have long stated, it's unconscionable for members of Congress to receive a paycheck while hardworking Americans are robbed of their hard-earned money because of D.C. dysfunction," said Britt. "That being said, I still believe this should be applied to ALL members of Congress, which is why I will continue to fight for the passage of legislation that is applicable to both the House and Senate." Britt noted she has voluntarily foregone her salary since March 19, 2026, during a partial shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, led a bicameral letter Thursday demanding answers from Brown University over the December 13, 2025, shooting that killed two students and injured nine, citing what the signatories called more than a decade of deliberate policy decisions that undermined campus security. The letter — co-signed by Sens. Katie Britt, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz, and Tommy Tuberville, along with seven House members — focused on a 17-minute delay in activating the BrownAlert system and a campus security posture the members described as hollowed out by anti-police activism.

"Brown University abandoned its students, choosing to virtue signal rather than protect them from being killed on their own campus," said Lee. The letter states the campus had "only five officers on duty, a system of non-functional or unstaffed security cameras, and ignored multiple warnings from campus employees about the assailant."

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced the Water Assurance and Treaty Enforcement for the Rio Grande Farmers Act Thursday, which would authorize tariffs on Mexican agricultural goods if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty — a pact that requires an average annual delivery of 350,000 acre-feet of water to the Rio Grande.

"Water shortages created by Mexico's failure to follow the 1944 Water Treaty have wreaked havoc on the ability of South Texas farmers and ranchers to plan and to tend their crops and livestock, hurting both them and our state's economy," said Cornyn. The bill would also create a direct compensation mechanism for agricultural producers who have suffered economic losses from the shortfalls. Cornyn previously secured more than $280 million in emergency assistance for Rio Grande Valley producers.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., addressed the Ripon Society this week and argued that AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing represent "the defining geopolitical contests of the 21st century," calling for legislation to ensure U.S. leadership. Young cited three bills — the Create AI Act, the Future of AI Innovation Act, and the National Quantum Innovation Initiative Reauthorization Act — as part of that effort.

On shipbuilding, Young put a blunt number on the table: "Last year we built one ocean-going vessel — repeat, one. China has the capacity to build over a thousand in a given year." He called for passing the SHIPS for America Act, which would set a goal of 250 new American vessels over the next decade.

Signals

• volumeThursday's 40 releases ran 48.6% below the Thursday baseline of 77.9, the lowest relative volume in the current tracking window.
• coordinatedThe entire 47-member Senate Democratic caucus issued releases on a single mifepristone resolution timed to the expiration of the Supreme Court's administrative stay in Louisiana v. FDA, representing a same-day unified rollout across the full minority caucus.
• voteThe Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act; seven senators issued individual statements on their votes within roughly two hours of the result, an unusually dense post-markup release cluster.
• silent breaksSen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, is listed as a signatory on Sen. Lee's Brown University letter (bf231d8d) despite having issued no independent press releases in 29 days; his name appears in the body text of that release but he did not issue his own.
• recessThe Senate is 11 days from the Memorial Day state work period; no floor votes are scheduled for today.
• silent breaksSen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, issued five releases Thursday — on the BLAST Act, Stars and Stripes, a private equity video, the mifepristone resolution, and the Patients Before Monopolies Act — the highest single-day output of any senator in today's input set.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK—
• Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, D-GA30d
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL29d
• Sen. Alex Padilla, D-CA28d
• Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS28d
• Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-TN17d