Democrat Senators Offer Bills on College Sports
Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Thursday introduced legislation that would dramatically alter the compensation and treatment of athletes in major-college sports programs.
The measure backs those changes with a variety of enforcement provisions that would be directed by a commission whose governing board would be appointed by the President and have subpoena power. It also would provide athletes and state attorneys general the right to sue for enforcement.
The 61-page piece of legislation, named the “College Athletes Bill of Rights,” would go far beyond other recently introduced bills largely aimed at improving athletes’ ability to make money from their names, images and likenesses (NIL).
The Autonomy Five Conferences issued a statement on the legislation:
“The Autonomy Five Conferences thank Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Richard Blumenthal for their interest in the future of college athletics. We won’t agree on everything but we can find some common ground between their proposal and other proposals by Sen. Roger Wicker and Reps. Anthony Gonzalez and Emanuel Cleaver. The creation of a national standard on NIL is a challenge Congress must address early in 2021. The uniquely American model of collegiate athletics depends on national rules that are enforceable and protective of the educational opportunities provided to student-athletes in both revenue and non-revenue sports. We are working with Congress to pursue answers that work for all our student athletes”
Read more from USA Today
Airlines Hoping for Further Relief
Airline pilots and other employees are watching congressional leaders' coronavirus relief talks with hope as legislation that includes $17 billion for struggling airlines inches closer to completion.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told employees the company may have to enact furloughs for the first time in the airline's history because of the pandemic, much to the chagrin of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association. But Kelly said this week that Southwest will not furlough employees if Congress passes a second round of Payroll Support Program (PSP) to help airlines get by for the next four months.
From Fox Business
WRDA Could be Included in Year-End Spending Bill
House and Senate negotiators have overcome a speed bump that’s slowed passage of a bipartisan water infrastructure package, moving the legislation toward inclusion in the year-end spending bill.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) agreed to tweak language related to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund that was authorized in the latest House-passed 2020 Water Resources Development Act (S. 1811), according to two aides familiar with the negotiations.
From Bloomberg reports and Politico