{"id":427,"date":"2026-06-26T16:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=427"},"modified":"2026-06-26T16:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:15:15","slug":"senate-college-sports-bill-authors-plan-talks-with-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=427","title":{"rendered":"Senate college sports bill authors plan talks with House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The authors of a Senate college sports bill say it\u2019s time to bring House Republicans and Democrats into discussions, as the clock is ticking to get the measure to President Donald Trump\u2019s desk before the long August recess.<\/p>\n

Read more Federal AI security center measure advanced by House Science<\/a><\/p>\n

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the push to advance the bill through the panel included \u201cthree corners,\u201d referring to senators, White House officials and college athletics stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s probably time to have a \u2018five-corner\u2019 discussion, because the issues we\u2019re seeing are from \u2026 both sides of the House,\u201d Cantwell told reporters after a June 18 markup of the legislation. \u201cI think that that\u2019s probably what would make the most sense to get everybody\u2019s viewpoint properly represented.\u201d<\/p>\n

But another week \u2014 dominated by chaos in both chambers \u2014 on a truncated election year floor calendar has already passed since the Senate Commerce Committee advanced the bill.<\/p>\n

Committee Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been open to expanded talks with House members and has said he already has had some exchanges about the legislation that he crafted along with Cantwell and Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Chris Coons, D-Del.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s message: A House version of the bill has stalled, and the Senate bill is the only game in town \u2014 meaning the lone bipartisan measure with a chance of passing both chambers and being signed into law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand House leadership\u2019s concerns. They have a lot invested in the SCORE Act. They worked hard in good faith on the SCORE Act,\u201d Cruz told reporters after the markup, using the acronym for the House bill, the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act.<\/p>\n

House GOP leaders revised that bill in April but ultimately had to pull it from consideration after the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP tied the legislation to redistricting efforts in red states that took away some majority-Black House districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree with that bill. The challenge is there are precisely zero Senate Democrats who would vote for the SCORE Act,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cAnd so, it is a bill that has no prospect of actually being signed into law. The only bill that has a realistic path to becoming law is this [Senate] bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason, Cruz said, is bipartisan compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to make concessions that, frankly, I didn\u2019t like. Sen. Cantwell made concessions that she didn\u2019t like. And that\u2019s how you get a compromise where not everybody gets everything they want,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think the final product is a good product, and so the next step is going to be to bring this bill to the floor and take a vote on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz said last week he hoped Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would agree to bring the bill to the floor in July. The chairman\u2019s goal is for Trump to sign the measure into law before the autumn academic semester and sports season begins.<\/p>\n

Read more At the Races: Waiting on SCOTUS<\/a><\/p>\n

Committee aides on Thursday gave no indication that Cruz had moved that legislative goalpost. One lobbyist who has advocated for some smaller collegiate conferences during the Commerce panel\u2019s work on the bill said his firm\u2019s understanding was that July remained the target.<\/p>\n

Spokespersons for Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., had not responded to an inquiry seeking comment on whether the bill would get July floor time. Notably, the tall and athletic-framed Thune played college basketball at California\u2019s Biola University.<\/p>\n

\u2018Who\u2019s the puppet\u2019?<\/h2>\n

Both Cruz and Cantwell acknowledged that additional changes could be required to secure the necessary votes in both chambers. However, both said major revisions were unlikely.<\/p>\n

Cantwell said her exchanges about the measure revealed colleagues with their proverbial political fingers in the air, trying to determine how to vote as November\u2019s midterm elections get nearer \u2014 as well as politics playing out in university leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people like it. They\u2019re just trying to understand the politics,\u201d Cantwell said. \u201cI think what\u2019s going to come up is that [athletic directors] and presidents are going to get their comeuppance from regents who were all of a sudden like, \u2018What the hell are you doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She described a conference call she and Cruz had with Southeastern Conference (SEC) presidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe presidents had to have a meeting to decide whether they could get on a conference call with Sen. Cruz and I without the conference commissioners,\u201d she said. \u201cOne university president could talk. He read a statement, and then nobody else could talk, and they didn\u2019t have any questions. So, who\u2019s the puppet here? So, I think the jig is going to be up on schools in a broader discussion, like, \u2018Hey, are you really letting the conference drive this discussion now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The SEC, which does not support the Senate legislation, did not respond to an email seeking a comment on Cantwell\u2019s \u201cpuppet\u201d remark.<\/p>\n

Schmitt said during the markup that he would continue talks with SEC officials to try assuaging their concerns before the measure hits the Senate floor. Cruz and Cantwell said last week they believe the bill could pass both chambers without the so-called Power Two conferences signing on \u2014 and Cruz said he expects big vote margins beyond the Senate\u2019s 60-vote threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy objective from the beginning was not simply to squeak by with just 60 votes, but to have a bigger bipartisan vote than that,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cI think this committee vote argues well for a strong vote on the floor. And I believe when we pass this with a big, bipartisan vote, it will go to the House with momentum \u2014 and I believe the House will take it up and pass it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court sides with Monsanto over cancer warning<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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