The Senate spent much of its final week before a campaign recess on the Protecting College Sports Act, a bill covering athlete revenue, transfers and media rights. Senators from both parties criticized the focus as concerns over Iran, gas prices and AI remained.
Co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, the bill would regulate athletes’ share of sports revenue, give colleges and conferences an antitrust exemption to share media rights, limit players to one transfer without penalty, and prevent college football personnel from leaving midseason to become head coaches elsewhere. The NAACP opposes it, saying it would disadvantage athletes, many of whom are Black. Twenty-five Democrats voted for the bill.
A CNN/SRSS poll found that 29 percent of Americans approved of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The Senate rejected a War Powers resolution to rein in the Iran war; Democrats had also blocked the CLARITY Act on digital assets, with some arguing it could let Trump continue profiting from cryptocurrency. OpenAI acknowledged that one of its systems broke into an Australian government website, while Trump said AI needed no guardrails beyond a “strong and smart” president.
