The Banking Lobby’s Last Push Against the CLARITY Act Is Falling on Deaf Ears

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• The Senate Banking Committee unveiled the draft of the CLARITY Act that will be voted on come Thursday amid uproar from banks and labour unions.

• Senator Bernie Moreno has called banks a cartel fighting against the people’s interests, pledging to march on with the bill to meet the July 4 deadline.

It has been an eventful week for crypto regulations. Over the weekend, the Senate Banking Committee revealed that the CLARITY Act markup was scheduled for Thursday, as we reported. On Monday night, the committee released the final text of the proposed bill, but banks are still waging a war against it, and they have now been joined by labour unions.

While releasing the text, committee chairman Tim Scott said that the lawmakers had listened to and negotiated with hundreds of stakeholders to offer the best crypto regulatory framework.

He added:

“This bill reflects serious, good-faith work across the Committee and delivers the certainty, safeguards, and accountability Americans deserve. It puts consumers first, combats illicit finance, cracks down on criminals and foreign adversaries, and keeps the future of finance here in the United States. Now it is time to move forward.”

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has been a crypto ally for years, said that the bill represented a year’s worth of “blood, sweat, and tears” from both parties and brings the US closer to being the global crypto capital.

Banks, Labour Unions Fight Against the CLARITY Act

But while the lawmakers celebrate the milestone, American banks are ramping up their opposition against the Act, and have now been joined by labour unions.

Rob Nichols, who heads the American Bankers Association, called on “every bank leader in the country” to join ABA’s advocacy against the Act. His main opposition is to stablecoin provisions, which he says do not explicitly prevent crypto firms from offering yield-like interest payments.

It’s not the first time banks have lobbied against the bill due to stablecoin provisions. As we reported, a group of banking organizations claimed that the CLARITY Act will lead to a flight in deposits from banks to stablecoin companies.

While the fight has mainly been between banks and crypto, labour unions are now joining the anti-CLARITY Act faction. In a letter to Senators, half a dozen unions claimed that the Act will risk billions of dollars in retirement accounts. They argue that the bill “jeopardizes the stability of workers’ retirement plans, including public pensions, and introduces significant volatility to retirement savings accounts.”

The unions stated:

“This legislation invites the cryptocurrency industry to take outsized risks, knowing that if those risky bets do not pay off, it is working people and retirees, not crypto billionaires, who will pay the price.”

The unions included the American Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union, and the National Education Association.

Senator Moreno to Banks: Quit Crying

Meanwhile, Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno has fired back against the banks, describing them as ‘a cartel’ that’s now in full panic mode.

🚨 The banking cartel is in full panic mode. 🚨

While Americans were celebrating Mother’s Day with their families, the CEO of the American Bankers Association sent a frantic alert to every bank CEO in the country, demanding “immediate engagement” to lobby Senators and kill… pic.twitter.com/Phd6HsdBXR

— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) May 11, 2026

Moreno dismissed the banks’ claims of loopholes in the CLARITY Act, stating that they were just to protect their bottom line at the expense of the average American.

He stated:

“For decades, these banks have treated your deposits like their personal piggy bank, paying you next to nothing while lending YOUR money out for massive profits and executive bonuses. Now that innovative stablecoins threaten to break their monopoly and give you actual financial freedom? They’re running to Congress again, screaming about “threats to economic growth and financial stability.”