Ted Cruz

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Mr. President, today, the Senate has an opportunity to do something that doesn't happen nearly enough in Washington. Republicans and Democrats can come together, solve a real problem, and protect an American institution that millions of people love. College sports today are in crisis. For years, court decisions, litigation, conflicting State laws, unlimited transfers, eligibility issues, and inconsistent enforcement have chipped away at the foundation of college athletics. The result is what we are seeing right now: the Wild West. The rules change from State to State, court to court, and season to season. Athletes don't know what rules will govern them, coaches don't know what rosters will look like from one year to the next, and schools don't know what rules they can legally enforce. And fans are watching traditions and rivalries disappear--traditions and rivalries that have existed for generations. Doing nothing is not an option. The Protect College Sports Act is a bipartisan solution designed to bring order to that chaos. And let me be clear about what this bill does: It protects the rights of student-athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness. It establishes clear, enforceable rules governing eligibility and transfers. It provides important protections for athletes, and it protects scholarships. It protects women's sports and Olympic sports from being sacrificed in an unchecked spending arms race. It protects rivalries and traditions that make college sports unlike anything else in the world. And it gives the limited legal certainty needed to actually enforce the rules. The bill doesn't turn back the clock. The NIL era is here, and student-athletes deserve the opportunity to benefit from their talent and hard work. But rights without rules produce chaos, and having rules means very little if every attempt to enforce them immediately ends up in court. That is the fundamental question before the Senate today: Do we want college sports to have clear national enforceable rules or do we want another decade of lawsuits, conflicting State laws, bidding wars, roster chaos, and uncertainty? The status quo is not working, and the people that will ultimately pay the price if Congress fails to act aren't the highly paid coaches or conference commissioners. They are the young men and women whose sports don't generate millions of dollars in television revenue. They are the swimmers and the wrestlers and the gymnasts and the rowers and the volleyball players and the track athletes and the thousands of other student athletes whose opportunities depend upon a healthy college athletic system. They are the high school athletes hoping to get that scholarship that will give them the opportunity to earn a college degree. And they are the fans who want their kids and grandkids to inherit the rivalries they grew up loving. This legislation isn't perfect. No bipartisan legislation is. Senator Cantwell and I both compromised to get here. But Senator Cantwell and I, along with many other Senators from both sides of the aisle, have spent months listening to student-athletes, to coaches, to universities, to conferences, to Olympic leaders, to professional sports organizations, and to fans. We found common ground, and now it is time to act. When this bill came before the Commerce Committee in June, I said we were in fourth down territory. Well, the ball is now on the Senate floor. There is no more time to punt. We can sit on the sidelines and watch college sports continue to unravel or we can step onto the field and lead. I urge my colleagues--Republicans and Democrats--to vote yes on the Protect College Sports Act. Listen to the 29 conferences that have endorsed this bill. Listen to the more than 370 universities that have endorsed this bill. Listen to the historically Black colleges and universities that are begging the Senate to pass this bill. Listen to the United Negro College Fund that has endorsed this bill. Listen to the Thurgood Marshall scholarship fund that has endorsed this bill. This bill has the support of the NFL, of the NBA, of Major League Baseball, of the National Hockey League. It has the support of the NBA Players Association and the NFL Players Association. It has the enthusiastic support of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Today is a chance for us to stand up and fight for the half-million college athletes who are competing right now, because, if the Senate doesn't act, hundreds of thousands of those students will see their roster slots go away and their scholarships go away. Let's fight for the students to protect their rights, to protect their future. Let's come together and demonstrate that the Senate-- Republicans and Democrats working together--can lead and protect an institution that is unique and valuable. That is college sports in America.