The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Protect College Sports Act, but the 19-9 vote signals that Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) “still have more work to do to build consensus,” according to Kelsey Brugger of POLITICO. House Republican leaders, who have been “unable to move their own legislation amid opposition on both sides of the aisle,” continue to pronounce the Senate Commerce “bill dead on arrival in their chamber,” largely because it “does not address whether student athletes could be granted certain labor rights.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has been leading the campaign against the Senate bill, “incredulous that senators thought they could get away with advancing a college sports package adamantly opposed” by two of the biggest conferences in the country: the Big Ten and SEC. Cantwell called her bill with Cruz a “compromise and committed to making further changes to get the measure across the finish line.” Some members of the Commerce Committee acknowledged Thursday that they were “voting to advance the bill with some reluctance in hopes that there would be changes before floor consideration is scheduled” (POLITICO, 6/18).
WON’T WORK: PUCK’s John Ourand writes it is “time to pump the brakes on the Protect College Sports Act.” There is “not enough time to do anything with this bill.” There are only 39 legislative days left before the midterms, which does not leave a large-enough window for any bill, “let alone one that had nine no votes coming out of committee and faces powerful bipartisan opposition” from senators such as Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Chris Murphy (D- Conn.). Ourand: “I don’t think anything gets done in the Senate before November, let alone a controversial bill like this” (PUCK, 6/19).
