Senate Commerce Committee aides said Monday the full chamber could begin voting on a sweeping college sports bill before starting a monthlong summer break, but Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., stopped short of penciling it onto his packed pre-recess calendar.
Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington, along with co-author Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., have been in talks with the leaders of the powerful Southeastern and Big 10 conferences since advancing a version of the measure on June 22. Those revenue-generating giants, known as college athletics’ “Power Two” leagues, announced late Friday their member schools would support the bill.
The conferences’ about-face comes as Congress has few legislative days left. The House left last week for its August recess. And Thune intends to use this week to move a bipartisan spending measure to fund the government until Dec. 11, a Russia sanctions bill, over 70 executive branch nominees and possibly a crypto-currency bill.
At the top of a call with reporters, Commerce Committee aides sounded bullish about at least procedural votes this week on the Protect College Sports Act. But later, they admitted it would rank behind Thune’s previously stated priorities. Speaking to reporters about the same time Monday in the Capitol, Thune did not clear the Cruz-Cantwell-Schmitt bill for takeoff.
