Senators are signaling an appetite for pursuing legislation that would create federal standards for prediction markets that allow people to place cheap bets on sports — and just about anything else.

“There’s interest from members on the panel to move forward and get something on the books,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday in an interview after she presided over a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on the topic.

She added she planned to confer with the full Commerce Committee chair, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), about a path forward.

The hearing, convened by the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, was billed as a fact-gathering exercise on the risks associated with popular online platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket — especially among young people — as well as sports scandals related to match-fixing and insider trading.

It came as House lawmakers are beginning their own internal conversations about cracking down specifically on the ability of lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children to exploit their insider knowledge to game the system across prediction markets, according to three people granted anonymity to share direct knowledge of the conversations.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Wednesday that House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) was “looking at” legislative options but details are still murky.

The Senate hearing revealed there could be strong industry pushback to efforts to regulate the prediction market space. For instance, Patrick McHenry — the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee who is now an adviser for the Coalition for Prediction Markets — argued prediction markets are already thoroughly regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

He also defended platforms like Kalshi and Robinhood, likening them to commodities futures that allow people to hedge against uncertain actions: “When grain futures came to fruition over 100 years ago, it was viewed much the same,” he said.

McHenry said he welcomed Congress’ input, but in an interview after the hearing he stressed the need to educate lawmakers.

“Part of this is just exposure on what we are doing — how these things function, what are these things doing to protect consumers,” McHenry said, adding that technology has allowed the platforms to be more proactive to find and penalize bad actors. “There has not been a significant education campaign prior to this year,” he said.

But senators also heard from Bill Miller, CEO of the American Gambling Association, who argued prediction markets were skirting rigorous rules established for sports betting and costing local governments tax funding.

“What we’ve seen is basically this tsunami created by prediction markets in a completely unregulated manner,” Miller said. “Yes, they are absolutely not competent to handle this, and … they are absolutely hurting tribes and states.”

Cruz appeared somewhat sympathetic to the argument.

“There is serious disagreement about whether the CFTC can unilaterally allow prediction markets to offer sports events contracts pursuant to the Commodity Exchanges Act,” he said in opening remarks Wednesday. “Many simply see prediction markets as a work around to state gambling laws. The courts are split. Ultimately, unless Congress acts, the Supreme Court may have to decide the issue.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

In a blow to the White House, Senate Republicans will remove a $1 billion Secret Service funding request that would help President Donald Trump’s ballroom project from their immigration enforcement funding bill amid internal objections.

“We were told that the ballroom money is out,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters after a GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, adding he’d “like to read the text.”

The decision to omit the security funding came after twin blows: Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled over the weekend that the provision didn’t comply with the strict rules governing what Republicans can put in their filibuster-skirting bill because it funded activities outside of the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction.

And several GOP senators aired public concerns about including any ballroom funding in a bill otherwise dedicated to immigration enforcement. A larger swath of Republicans were privately opposed, with the mood souring further Tuesday amid anger over Trump’s decision to endorse Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming GOP primary runoff in Texas.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Republicans during the lunch Wednesday that both factors — the parliamentary issues and the vote count — remain obstacles to including the Secret Service security funding, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private gathering.

Kennedy told reporters he believed the entire Secret Service provision would be omitted, as did one of the two people, another GOP senator.

Thune, after the lunch, said conversations are ongoing and that the bill text isn’t yet finalized.

Draft legislation made an explicit mention of the East Wing Modernization Project, specifying that part of the $1 billion in Secret Service funding could be used for “above-ground and below-ground security features” of the ballroom project.

That mention was a top priority for the White House, which made clear earlier this month that passage of the bill with the language included would amount to Congress granting approval to the ballroom project as a whole. The administration is currently mired in court after a federal judge ruled earlier this year that the project had not been properly authorized by lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview late last week that the White House had given them proposed legislative text related to the project.

Republicans are privately bracing for a furious Trump reaction to the decision to drop the security funding, according to two people granted anonymity to describe internal conversations. Even before Senate GOP leaders made the decision, the president called for MacDonough’s firing in a Truth Social post.

There had been signs for days, though, that the language was problematic. The administration tried to reassure senators that only $220 million of $1 billion in Secret Service money would potentially go toward the ballroom project and otherwise “hardening” the White House complex.

But GOP senators still had unanswered questions heading into Wednesday, which they viewed as the unofficial deadline for making a decision as they rush to send a bill to Trump’s desk this week.

Removing the Secret Service funding won’t solve all the political headaches Republicans are facing on the immigration bill.

Democrats are expected to propose an amendment targeting a new Justice Department “anti-weaponization” fund created as part of a settlement with Trump that could be used to compensate the president’s political allies.

Republicans believe such an amendment would get enough GOP support to be added to the bill, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

House GOP leaders are canceling a vote on an Iran war powers resolution they had previously scheduled tor Wednesday, according to three people granted anonymity to share private scheduling updates.

Due to GOP absences and defections, the measure likely would have been approved if the vote were held today. Rather than take that risk, Republicans are now expected to hold the vote Thursday.

It comes the day after the Senate moved its own war powers resolution over a procedural hurdle in a surprise rebuketo President Donald Trump.