Congress

Senators bullish on chances for a July vote on college sports bill

Published

1 day ago

July 16, 2026

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz is hopeful the Senate will be able to vote this month on his bipartisan college athletics legislation as he makes “minor modifications” to win support.

The Texas Republican said Wednesday he has been meeting throughout this week with “several dozen” commissioners and university presidents to solicit feedback on the bill he introduced last month with the Commerce Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington.

“We continue to make significant progress,” he said, declining to get into the “active discussions” around negotiations.

“I believe we will vote on it this month,” Cruz added.

The so-called Protect College Sports Act would establish a federal rule book for college athletics by enacting new policies for student-athlete transfers, banning coaches from moving schools mid-season and enshrining certain “name, image and likeness” protections in law.

Time is running out to schedule a floor vote in July, however, and it remains unclear how much work needs to be done to build consensus in the next two weeks.

A person granted anonymity to share private discussions said Senate Majority Leader John Thune has expressed interest in moving the bill to the floor once it can get 60 votes. But members in both parties have misgivings — including Democrats concerned about student athlete labor protections as well as some Republicans attuned to concerns from major college athletic conferences.

Cantwell, in an interview Thursday, said there’s a “possibility for sure” the bill could land on the Senate floor by the end of the month, while acknowledging there was still some work to do.

“I think right now we have a bill that’s like really in the middle and then there’s people on both sides trying to make change,” she said. “And I think we’ll have to see what we can do that still preserves that agreement but grows the votes.”

Two lobbyists actively engaged in talks around the bill, who were granted anonymity to comment on private conversations, said the legislation is far from ready for a floor vote, adding that the Commerce Committee has not made substantial progress on winning over key players in college sports.

Several universities and conferences — including Louisiana State University, the University of Alabama and Auburn University — have reiterated in recent days that they believe the Cruz-Cantwell bill still requires substantial changes like clarifying liability protections for schools and closing potential loopholes around non-NIL payments for student-athletes.

The bill has also faced strong headwinds as the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference — the two largest college athletics conferences in the country — have pushed back on a provision aimed at allowing conferences to pool their media rights, insisting the bill clarify that any such provision is entirely voluntary.

Several major conferences were at one time more enthusiastic about the rival proposal in the House known as the SCORE Act, which would offer strong antitrust protections and preempt state NIL laws. But that bill stalled amid opposition from GOP hard-liners and others, emboldening Cruz and Cantwell to forge ahead with their own plan.

Both measures, however, have faced pushback from the Congressional Black Caucus, which has continued to vow to boycott any college sports legislation amid efforts by GOP-led states to redraw congressional maps across the South.

Congress

AIPAC drops online donations to Dems who backed Israel aid cut

Published

4 minutes ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The campaign finance arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is curtailing online contributions to House Democrats who voted to cut Israel aid this week, in the latest rift between the party and the influential advocacy group.

As of Friday afternoon, an online portal for AIPAC’s political action committee removed donation buttons for more than a dozen House Democrats from a page that lists incumbents who “stand with Israel.”

The members now listed without donation buttons include Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat; Joe Neguse of Colorado, another member of leadership; and Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, who renounced AIPAC money after the vote.

“AIPAC members are deeply appreciative of their representatives who stand on principle and are disappointed by those who don’t,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa said in a statement to Blue Light News.

The move is further evidence of a major shift in AIPAC’s political relationship with House Democrats. Ahead of the midterms, several hard-left progressive candidates have toppled incumbents in primaries after hammering them for accepting AIPAC money, leaving many Democrats to conclude that ties to the pro-Israel group are politically toxic.

According to a snapshot from the Internet Archive, the donation buttons were active as recently as July 6. At that point, the portal also included praise for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

“We thank Congresswoman Pelosi for her support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” a caption on the portal read on July 6 after noting Pelosi is not running for reelection. As of Friday, the thank you was gone — as was a thank you to Pelosi’s fellow California Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley.

Spokespeople for the House Democrats did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, more than 100 House Democrats voted for an amendment to a State Department funding bill that would have cut U.S. aid to Israel, marking a massive break in the party’s once unshakable support for the Jewish state. Many of those members cited frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. The amendment failed, with 98 Democrats including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York opposing it.

Ryan posted on X Wednesday that he expected groups like AIPAC would no longer support his future campaigns and that “frankly, I don’t want their support.”

“Hardline stances that refuse to stand up to a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime have no place in our politics,” he said.

Congress

Judge rules OMB can’t retroactively nix grants based on new rules

Published

35 minutes ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A federal judge declared Friday that the Trump administration can’t cancel grants based on new rules or goals established after the fact — in a blow to its efforts to terminate billions of dollars already promised.

U.S. district judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, denied the Trump administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 20 states, three governors and the District of Columbia challenging the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal grant awards since President Donald Trump was inaugurated last year.

Federal law does not allow the “terminations of awards based on new program goals or agency priorities that an agency identifies after granting the award,” the court concluded.

The ruling comes as lawmakers in both parties, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), urge White House budget director Russ Vought to delay plans to overhaul the approval process for federal grants. The Trump administration is proposing a new regulation that would put political appointee in charge of approving or mixing awards for federal dollars.

Congress

House GOP releases bill to fund government until after the midterm elections

Published

4 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders released text Friday for a bill to fund the vast majority of the federal government from the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 until after the midterm elections — bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process and daring Democrats to pick a shutdown fight months before voters head to the polls.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to put the legislation on the floor next week.

The measure would fund the government through Dec. 4 and, as Republican leaders promised, would not include additional policy riders or unrelated provisions.

The text released Friday also does not include President Donald Trump’s top policy priority, the partisan elections overhaul and voter ID measure dubbed the SAVE America Act.