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\n

The Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill Monday that would overhaul the multibillion-dollar college sports industry \u2014 a major legislative victory shared by members of both parties and President Donald Trump, who wants to sign the package as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

A high priority for Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz of Texas and the panel\u2019s top Democrat, Maria Cantwell of Washington, the Protect College Sports Act would replace a patchwork of state laws governing student athlete compensation, transfers and eligibility with one overarching federal rulebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday the Senate has the opportunity to protect the half million college athletes and the millions more who follow in their footsteps,\u201d said Cruz in a floor speech Monday. \u201cStudents are transferring three or four times. Pros are trying to play ball against college kids. Conflicting court decisions have created a fragmented system \u2014 one that no one intended. And young men and women are losing opportunities to compete and receive an education.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while the 77-22 vote would ordinarily present itself as a welcome glimpse of cross-party unity, it is now being overshadowed by a murky outlook in the House, where Republicans oppose multiple provisions of the Senate package.<\/p>\n

Democrats, meanwhile, are smarting from a highly-charged debate over whether the legislation would exploit college athletes of color \u2014 and some are questioning why their colleagues would split from the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, two organizations core to the party’s base that oppose the legislation.<\/p>\n

That the vote was one of the last actions senators will take before leaving Washington to campaign for the midterms also has also presented unsavory optics for many Republicans, who are desperate to show they are serious about alleviating concerns around rising gas prices and interest rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this really what we should be spending our time on?\u201d Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the most vocal opponents of the legislation, asked Monday night on the Senate floor. \u201cOur country faces real challenges. Gas is at $5. Diesel costs are a record high. We\u2019re at war abroad. Health care expenses are skyrocketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d Booker continued, \u201cthe United States Senate is spending precious time rewriting the rules of college sports while athletes\u2019 groups, survivors of sexual assault, labor, civil rights leaders are all begging Congress to slow down and listen to their voices. What does this say about our priorities?\u201d<\/p>\n

In one apparent acknowledgement of the dynamics at play, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) offered an amendment that would have put limits on how much schools and conferences can increase the price of tickets for games \u2014 arguing it would help keep costs stable for fans amid a nationwide affordability crisis. Cruz objected to the proposal, arguing it would \u201charm schools from being able to respond when market factors change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s amendment was ultimately rejected, while senators adopted a change to the bill sought by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to require the disclosure of foreign financing of intercollegiate athletics.<\/p>\n

Cruz in a Senate floor speech Monday presented the Protect College Sports Act as a binary choice for his colleagues: Stand by, or turn their backs, on student athletes who are currently being undercut by bidding wars that force schools to scrap programs because they don\u2019t make headlines or big time television contracts.<\/p>\n

Cantwell, meanwhile, has insisted the \u201chistoric bill\u201d is a victory for the half-million college athletes across the country \u2014 particularly women and participants in Olympic sports programs \u2014 who are losing out on money and resources as big-ticket departments like football spend big money to attract top talent.<\/p>\n

“We need to stop stealing money out of college [and] university institutions for education, for tuition, for professors, and putting it into an arms race on sports,” she said.<\/p>\n

These arguments are lost on members of the Congressional Black Caucus, of which Booker is a part \u2014 with its chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), saying in an interview last week the bill fails to \u201ccenter the lives of the athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s so much that this bill neglects,\u201d she said, pointing specifically to health care provisions.<\/p>\n

The all-Democratic CBC has been unanimously opposed to moving forward on any college sports bill since May, following the late April Supreme Court decision that allowed Republican-led states to eliminate majority-minority districts across the South.<\/p>\n

In a statement at the time, the CBC said it would not support legislation \u201cbenefiting major athletic institutions that continue to remain silent while Black voting rights and Black political power are being systematically dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Democrats in the Senate also lamented that the bill would set student athletes back after many have benefited from various federal court rulings entitling them to compensation for their name, image and likeness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill\u2026only caps the money going to the players \u2014 does nothing to cap the money going to the coaches,\u201d Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on the floor Monday.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side of the aisle, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise \u2014 who was heavily involved in working on a House version of a college sports overhaul bill that has repeatedly fallen short of support \u2014 has consistently raised concerns that the Senate measure would leave the door open to possible unionization efforts by players.<\/p>\n

House conservatives are also expected to oppose provisions in the Senate bill that would provide $1 billion for competitive grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities without offsets; could increase litigation related to student unionization efforts; provide no cap on granting international student scholarships; and generally insert Congress into the business of college sports.<\/p>\n

GOP Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington, who introduced an earlier House version of the bill, posted on social media<\/u><\/a> Monday that the bill will \u201chave a better than 50% chance in the House.\u201d He also said that even with the president\u2019s blessing, the legislation will need Democratic votes, pointing out the \u201cDem CBC will be a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Republicans may ultimately face pressure to fall in line: Trump promoted the Senate bill as recently as this weekend in an interview with Clay Travis, founder of the digital sports column Sport & State.<\/p>\n

Trump also suggested Speaker Mike Johnson might bring the House back before the midterms to clear the measure for his signature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get it voted on,\u201d he told Travis, \u201cand we’re counting on the House \u2014 and I think the House will come through, too.”<\/p>\n

Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill Monday that would overhaul the multibillion-dollar college sports industry \u2014 a major legislative victory shared by members of both parties and President Donald Trump, who wants to sign the package as soon as possible. A high priority for Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz of Texas and the panel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}