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President Trump on Friday ramped up the pressure on Senate Republicans to cancel part of their August recess, this time urging embattled GOP senators to stay in Washington until they pass a bill to reform rules for compensating and recruiting college athletes.
The measure has been bogged down in the Senate, and the disagreement over the measure appears to be holding up a deal to speedily advance other priorities.
“THE PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT is a great Bill, and the Senate will hopefully stay in D.C. until it passes,” Trump declared on Truth Social.
“Without this Bill, millions of young Athletes will be hurt, programs will be canceled, Women’s and Olympic Sports will go away, the fans will be robbed, and Universities will go broke,” Trump warned.
The Senate Republican cloakroom on Friday circulated a “hotline” alert to gauge potential objections to the college sports bill, a bipartisan measure that was negotiated by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
The measure would establish nationwide standards for name, image and likeness (NIL), transfers and eligibility for college sports.
Cruz is pushing for unanimous consent to vote on the bill before the Senate leaves for a five-week recess.
The “hotline” circulated by Senate GOP leaders proposed voting on a motion to proceed to the bill and, if it’s successful, a follow-up vote to pass the legislation at a 60-vote threshold.
But one senior Senate GOP aide said there are multiple objections to advancing the bill so quickly.
“It’s complicated, there are a lot of pieces to this. I’m okay with waiting,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), whose home state includes the SEC powerhouse the University of Georgia.
The Aflac Kickoff Game last month offered a major name, image and likeness deal with Auburn leading up to its game against Baylor on Sept. 5.
The SEC and Big Ten conferences initially opposed the Protect College Sports Act but recently issued a statement expressing support for the legislation after negotiating changes with the bill’s authors.
Some Republicans, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), have expressed concern the legislation as drafted could overturn laws passed in 27 states barring transgender athletes from women’s sports.
Trump on Friday insisted the bill would not override those state laws.
“Nobody has done more to protect Women Athletes than me — and this Bill CLEARLY protects the Laws in 27 States protecting Women’s Sports, and banning Men from Women’s Sports. Anyone who tells you differently is LYING! Stop grandstanding, and try getting this done,” Trump declared on Truth Social.
Trump had previously demanded that the Senate cancel its August recess to continue debating and voting on the SAVE America Act, which would require people to prove citizenship when registering to vote and require voters show photo identification in federal elections.
The president has also urged the Senate not to leave for the August recess before passing a budget resolution to set the state for passing a third reconciliation package to provide new funding for the Pentagon, struggling farmers and grants to states to adopt election reforms.
Thune has proposed voting on a motion to proceed to the budget resolution before senators leave town for the recess.
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