Congress
Thune tees up action on college sports bill
Senate Majority Leader John Thune took an initial step Wednesday to allow votes on bipartisan college sports legislation, though it remains unclear how soon it could pass the chamber.
Led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the Protect College Sports Act would rewrite the national rules for how college athletes are paid and how conferences can expand.
The bill got a boost recently when the Southeastern and Big Ten megaconferences dropped their opposition after the senators agreed to institute a “hard cap” on athlete payments for schools with revenue-sharing deals while preserving an athlete’s ability to secure deals for their name, image and likeness on the open market.
Cruz, Cantwell and other allies have spent recent days pitching the bill to colleagues and have expressed optimism that revised text released Tuesday could garner well over 60 votes needed in the Senate.
Thune’s move allows for an initial vote as soon as Friday, though a deal could speed things up. He also set up potential votes on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general and a stopgap spending bill punting a shutdown deadline until December.
Rep. Max Miller’s Democratic opponent doesn’t want to make his campaign about Miller, even as attention grows on the abuse allegations against the Ohio congressman.
“I’m not necessarily running against Max Miller,” ironworker Brian Poindexter said in a Wednesday phone interview. “I’m running for working families.”
“Are there more eyes on our campaign because of Max Miller? Sure,” he said. “But we’re welcoming people in. Republicans, Democrats, independents are all uniting around the fact that working families are just not making it, and they want to see real change.”
Miller is facing claims of abuse from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. Miller has denied any wrongdoing, including accusations that he poured hot water on Emily Moreno and held a gun to her head.
While it might be obvious for a challenger to amplify those claims, which have generated a media firestorm around Miller and his flagging campaign, Poindexter said he isn’t interested in doing so.
He insists that the allegations have not “changed the thing that we’re doing — we’re continuing to build bridges with people who have abandoned the Democratic Party.”
“Our message stays the same,” he said. “Obviously the allegations against Max Miller are very credible and very outrageous. … If they prove to be true, he should be in jail.”
But rather than continue to hammer Miller over the claims, Poindexter hit the congressman for rarely showing up to community events. Miller’s constituents, he said, “are happy to see somebody actually putting in the work.”
A spokesperson for Miller did not respond to a request for comment.
Pressed whether Miller should resign or drop out of the race absent a clear verdict from the courts or House Ethics Committee, which opened an investigation into Miller on Tuesday, Poindexter said he would not “presume to say what he should do or shouldn’t do.”
“What I’m just going to do is continue to run for the hardworking people of District 7. They need somebody who’s willing to fight for them, and I’m willing to fight to make sure that their lives are improved.”
The White House is leaning on Miller to withdraw his reelection bid, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. Miller confirmed Tuesday on CNN that President Donald Trump called him this week to say he was facing a “tough race.”
Miller would have to withdraw by the end of the week to allow for party officials to put a new name on the ballot.
Asked whether he’d like to see Miller stay in the race so that he could face a weakened candidate — as opposed to whomever GOP party brass would seek to elevate — Poindexter said, “I didn’t get into this race for an easy path.”
“I got into this race to fight for working people, and I don’t care who is on the ballot,” he said, “whether it’s Max Miller or anybody else.”
Speaker Mike Johnson spoke to Rep. Chuck Edwards in the hours before the North Carolina Republican ended his reelection campaign in an early-morning X post, a Johnson aide familiar with the conversation said.
Johnson declined to say in a Tuesday night interview with POLITICO whether Edwards should continue his campaign after the House Ethics Committee recommended his censure over “inappropriate conduct” with young women on his staff. He said Edwards had “a big decision” to make and that he planned to discuss the matter with him further.
That conversation happened overnight, the aide familiar with the conversation said, with Johnson encouraging Edwards “to make the right decision for his family and everyone.”
The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to advance the Kids Online Safety Act, a key measure that would require companies to develop online platforms with children’s safety in mind — but offered few signs that Congress has reached consensus on the debate about how to protect youths on the internet.
The measure, championed by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would increase protections for minors’ data and require platforms to give users the option to opt out of personalized algorithms.
“We’re sending a message to Big Tech that the era of Big Tech profiting off of our children is over,” Blackburn said during the committee markup — while acknowledging that it differs dramatically from a competing kids’ safety bill in the House.
For now at least, the Senate bill’s advancement represents a major win for kids’ safety advocates who have repeatedly called on committee members to advance KOSA as written, including a crucial provision known as “duty of care.”
And not all the kids’ safety bills the panel considered Wednesday morning are moving forward.
Senate Commerce lawmakers earlier in the markup failed to advance an age verification measure because the panel did not reach quorum in a 15-13 voice vote. That legislation has provoked concerns from some Silicon Valley companies as well as free speech advocates, who contend it would imperil anonymity on the internet.
The duty of care provision, central to the Senate version, was omitted from the House measure in the kids’ safety package the chamber passed in June.
“The Senate cannot and will not accept the version that the House passed earlier. It is toothless, and it is a very pale imitation of the Senate version, and therefore it is a pale imitation of big tech accountability,” Blackburn said during the committee markup.
KOSA could now head to the Senate floor for a full vote. The bill previously passed the chamber overwhelmingly by a 91-3 vote in 2024 but subsequently stalled in the House.
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