Lummis Blames 'Visceral Hatred' of Trump for Failed Senate Crypto Bill

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) made her first public remarks on last week's failed Senate vote on crypto market structure legislation, telling an audience at CoinDesk's Policy & Regulation event on Tuesday that Democrats' animosity toward President Donald Trump was the reason the bill died. "The problem was, as I see it, Democrats hate President [Donald] Trump more than they like good policy," she said, adding that they "chose their visceral hatred" over passing important legislation before the midterm.

The Clarity Act, which sought to clarify how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulate crypto markets — including spot markets — failed a procedural vote last Tuesday. Every Democrat and three Republicans voted against it, with a fourth Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), switching his vote to "no" at the last minute for procedural reasons.

Lummis emphasized the bill was a bipartisan effort, having grown from roughly 300 pages to over 600 after Democrats requested additions such as bankruptcy protections. She dismissed post-vote spin that blamed the industry, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, or Trump's memecoin wealth, insisting, "Every single Democrat voted no, every single one." Trump's 2026 financial disclosure revealed he earned $1.4 billion from crypto ventures in 2025.

Despite her frustration, Lummis credited Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Kirsten Gillibrand — her longtime legislative partner — as "honest brokers" in the negotiations.

Earlier that day, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) also addressed the failed vote in another session. Both argued the Clarity Act, or a future version, remains necessary.

"The Clarity Act, in my judgment, gave legal statutory certainty to both [the Howey test, fundraising questions, and how code writers should be treated], and that's why I think we should still be arguing here, not moping around about the failure of a cloture vote," Hill said. He added that the bill could still pass on a bipartisan basis.

Torres, however, said Trump's crypto involvement created a "political problem" for Democrats. "If it were not for Donald Trump, we likely could have seen both Democrats and Republicans get to yes," he said, noting the president's decision to issue his own memecoin made the vote harder.

Hill acknowledged that Trump's memecoin "absolutely did poison the well of the debate," but pointed out that the same memecoin existed last year when Congress passed the GENIUS Act for stablecoins and the House advanced its version of Clarity on a bipartisan basis. He argued that after the midterms, Trump becomes a "lame duck," and lawmakers will need bipartisan cooperation to pass Clarity — both to regulate crypto and to set rules for presidential behavior.

Torres echoed that sentiment: "If Clarity is about regulating the crypto industry and creating fair and orderly, efficient markets and providing protection for consumers and investors, it's a bipartisan path. If it becomes about the most polarizing personality in American politics, then it becomes something else."