Cory A. Booker
Senator for New Jersey · Democratic · United States
“They have developed over recent years more power and more leverage, and that is a scary thing for the NCAA. I want to be honest about one point--about who creates a disproportionate amount of that value. That is actually Black athletes.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“The protections expire in 4 to 9 years, depending on the size of the program. The NCAA's antitrust exemption is permanent. The protections for women's and Olympic sports are only temporary. And athletes are noticing. Listen to Caitlin VanderKlok, a cross-country athlete at the University of Tennessee.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“In most States, it is the highest paid State employee. In 2025 alone, 15 fired coaches secured buyouts worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. That is $250 million paid to coaches not to coach. You hear people running around here lobbying, saying: Oh, we have a financial crisis in college sports.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“That should tell you everything you need to know about who this bill protects. Listen to former senior Justice Department officials, including a former principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, a former Acting Associate Attorney General, and a former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I am so grateful to be recognized. It is amazing how for more than 14 years in this place, I was trying to get Congress to step in to do something to help athletes, but the answer was no, no, no.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“People in this body that say it protects women's and Olympic sports are lying to you by not telling you the whole truth; that those protections expire. Listen to Meghann Burke, executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
The complete record
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“I know this bill is about to be passed, but I want to say very plainly, this bill sells out college athletes. This bill does not allow equal treatment between coaches and those athletes. This bill does not provide enough money left over for their health and interests. This bill gives permanent antitrust exemptions to this organization, and it does not create permanent protections for Olympic athletes, no permanent protections for women's sports, and this bill undermines the ability for athletes to sue for privacy violations and civil rights violations. I urge my colleagues to vote no. I know this is not the final word on this legislation, and I am grateful for those colleagues that joined me in ``no'' votes. Vote on S. 4668”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, this is one of the hypocrisies in this bill. This bill targets athletes. It is subject to endorsement deals, redtape, scrutiny, and bureaucracy. It limits the amount of revenue that schools share with athletes, but there are no comparable restrictions on coaches or any other powerful actor in college sports. This strikes me as fundamentally unfair, especially when, during all these negotiations, college after college would whisper to me and say: There is a race to the bottom on these crazy coach salaries. On endorsement deals, the amendment subjects coaches' endorsement deals to the same approval and disclosure requirements that would apply to athletes.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 6835 and ask that it be reported by number.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I thank the Senator from Washington, and I ask for the yeas and nays.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I am glad the bill recognizes college athletes need help covering the cost of injuries they sustained while playing, but I am skeptical that $100 million will be enough. There are roughly half a million college athletes competing at any given time. That money can go quickly when you are talking about serious, lifelong injuries. Our amendment would raise the cap on the fund from $100 million to $200 million. And, more importantly, it wouldn't hurt small schools. It would be the NCAA and the Power Four conferences that would be responsible for covering the difference. These are the institutions that have built multibillion dollar industries around college sports. They should help ensure that athletes who suffer serious injuries have the resources to receive the care that they need.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I call up my amendment No. 6805 and ask that it be reported by number.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I urge my colleagues to stand up for justice. I urge my colleagues not to race to get a bill done right before an election. I urge my colleagues to hold hearings and actually listen to survivors of sexual assault, parents of dead college athletes, to the kids who have serious, debilitating injuries right now and are paying their own medical bills. I beg my colleagues not to do this. It is wrong. The next Congress would give us time. The next Congress would give us a chance. But, no, billionaires and millionaires and lobbyists and funding has poured into this place, and suddenly, right before we leave, the last thing we are doing is a bill that is going to hurt so many. I regret this day. I regret watching my colleagues do this. But the fight continues. I yield the floor.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“They deserve a system that does more to protect their rights than saying: It is all on you. Sue if you want to. Sue your coach. They deserve to know that when they stand up and demand a fairer system, when they win in the courts and State legislatures, this body won't betray them by pulling the rug out from underneath them. They deserve leaders in this body who will stand with the athletes first. We may lose this vote today, but athletes know how to come back from a loss. They know how to get back up and go to work. They know how to keep fighting for what they believe is right. I am going to keep fighting alongside these athletes. I am going to keep fighting against an institution called the NCAA that has violated their rights all throughout my lifetime. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“There seems to be this high-and-mighty rhetoric about freedom and free markets when it comes to every other area of our economy but not this $20 billion industry. Under this Federal bill, the Federal Government will decide how many schools can join an athletic conference, when certain games can be played, and how much revenue athletes can receive from their own schools. This is a massive amount of market intervention. Where else does the Federal Government step in to limit what people can earn while allowing the institutions that control the market to pay their executives anything they want? There is not one single industry.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Senate is spending precious time on the floor rewriting the rules of college sports while athletes, athletes groups, survivors of sexual assault, labor, and civil rights leaders are all begging Congress to slow down and listen to their voices. What does this say about our priorities? It is also worth noting that many of my Senators are supporting this bill. They like to preach the gospel of small government. They talk about the love of free markets and small government; the importance of freedom and America's right to pursue the opportunities that are best for them. But there seems to be a major exception to that kind of philosophy when it comes to young people who are disproportionately Black.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Here is the National College Players Association: This bill is clearly not ready for a vote. Congress should stop rushing it and fully vet the problems before asking members to vote. I could go on with all of the compelling, painful letters that have been written. This is the wrong focus for Congress 30 days before midterm elections. There is one more question we should be asking about before we take this vote: Is this really what we should be spending our time on? Our country faces real challenges. Gas is at $5. Diesel costs are at a record high. We are at war abroad. Healthcare expenses are skyrocketing. And the U.S.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“And listen to the athletes' own organizations. Here is athletes.org: The [Protect College Sports Act] protects schools, not athletes. It rolls back athletes' hard-earned rights while protecting the financial interests of the NCAA, its member conferences, universities, and-- I add ``well-paid''-- coaches. Worse, many of its proposed solutions fail to address the problems they claim to solve, risking even more confusion and instability across college sports.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“That should tell you everything you need to know about who this bill protects. Listen to former senior Justice Department officials, including a former principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, a former Acting Associate Attorney General, and a former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. Listen to what they write: The Protect College Sports Act includes a broad antitrust exemption that would immunize the NCAA from any Federal or State enforcement for weaponizing its enormous power over college athletes to cap pay, limit eligibility and transfers, or otherwise impose burdens or restrictions on players. This would constitute the most sweeping antitrust exemption granted by Congress since the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Not since 1945 have we seen what Congress is about to do today.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Before Congress grants sweeping new protections to the college sports system, we ask that you hear directly from those of us who have experienced the consequences when that system fails athletes. Is anybody listening? Have we had them at the hearings? Have their voices been taken into account? Listen to some of our labor leaders, listen to the AFL-CIO as they write: The Protect College Sports Act is not a compromise between competing interests but a legislative effort that preserves institutional control at a time when courts, lawmakers, and the public are increasingly questioning the fairness of the existing model. The bill gained its current momentum not when athletes' interests were satisfied but when the richest intercollegiate conferences in the country voted to endorse the bill.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I want to bring the concerns of more of those people into this Chamber and make sure it is a part of the official Record. Listen to a group of athletes who survived sexual assault and parents who lost children during college sports activities. They wrote a powerful letter pleading with Senators. Here is an excerpt of their letter: These are not abstract policy concerns to us. We know firsthand the consequences when institutions are allowed to police themselves, when reports of abuse or dangerous practices remain inside the institution, and when victims are left without meaningful accountability after harm is done. They continue: Universities, conferences, and other powerful college sports' interests have had extensive opportunities to make their case as this legislation has developed.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Senators Warnock, Alsobrooks, Blunt Rochester, Murphy, and I offered a simple amendment: turn that authorization into an appropriation. If you are going to parade Black people in your millions of dollars' worth of ads, saying you are giving money to HBCUs, maybe the text of this bill should actually give money to HBCUs. Let's deliver on that promise today. Let's actually cut a check to historically Black colleges and universities. But no, no. This bill says we should deal with a promise, an intention, and this amendment is not going to be voted on. I am not alone in my concerns about this bill. There are so many people in this Nation--who stand up for the underdog, who stand up for the little guy and the little gal, who represent athletes or fight for equal rights--that object to this bill.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Do you remember the 15 fired coaches and their buyouts being worth--this last year--a quarter of a billion dollars? We offered an amendment to simply cap future buyouts at 1- year's salary. This would protect schools across the country from being forced to plunge millions of dollars into college coaches who are not even coaching. It would give them the opportunity to not have to pay these exorbitant prices when they could be investing in things to improve education of all kids. Well, that amendment is not going to get a vote today. Common sense. Take women's Olympic sports. I offered a simple amendment to strike the sunset provision and make those provisions permanent just like the NCAA's antitrust exemption.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Well, we are not going to be voting on that amendment because it is not about the athletes, it is not about fairness; it is enforcing hypocrisy. Let's take transfers, which I have heard already some of my colleagues talk about on the floor. This bill allows an athlete to transfer one time. If they transfer again, they have to sit out a year. Well, reasonable people could disagree on that policy, but if you are going to restrict athletes' ability to move between schools, the same rules should apply to coaches. We offered an amendment to make that happen. It was not accepted. Imagine you are that athlete, promised by coaches everything, and that coach gets to leave and go to as many schools as they want, but you are stuck. Let's take the buyouts.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“I and colleagues Murphy and Blumenthal and others offered a series of amendments built on a simple principle: If we are going to impose rules on athletes, we should apply the same rules to coaches. Take compensation, this bill caps what schools can share directly with athletes. So we offered an amendment to cap what schools can pay coaches to $5 million a year. That is still very good money. This amendment is not going to get a vote on the floor today. Take endorsement deals, the bill subjects athletes' NIL deals to fair-market value review, a valid business purpose standard, approval, and disclosure. So we offered an amendment to require that same process for coaches' deals, for their endorsement deals.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Listen to the people that represent college athletes. Listen to the people that represent athletes who have come out of college sports and are now playing in the pros. But this is a bill not about college athletes; this is a bill about wealthy people, wealthy coaches, wealthy institutions, and an NCAA that has enjoyed unbridled power for decades as we watched discrimination, hardships, injustice. And finally--finally--athletes started getting some power in the equation. And this body--after my trying for 10 to 15 years to get them to step in and help college athletes, this body rushes in to suddenly say: We are protecting college athletes. Well, that is not true. So, look, I know how things work here. I have offered some ways to try to improve this bill.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“People in this body that say it protects women's and Olympic sports are lying to you by not telling you the whole truth; that those protections expire. Listen to Meghann Burke, executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association. She says: There is a profound contradiction at the center of this legislation: the claim that the Protect College Sports Act protects women in sports. In reality, the bill risks undermining the promise of title IX. Schools should not be able to evade their title IX obligations simply by calling revenue-sharing payments compensation rather than athletic benefits. At a time when college athletes are beginning to exercise their collective power, we should not be putting new barriers in their path toward collective bargaining. Listen to college athletes.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“The protections expire in 4 to 9 years, depending on the size of the program. The NCAA's antitrust exemption is permanent. The protections for women's and Olympic sports are only temporary. And athletes are noticing. Listen to Caitlin VanderKlok, a cross-country athlete at the University of Tennessee. She says: Commercials are claiming that the Protect College Sports Act will protect women and Olympic sport athletes like me. But simply mentioning women's and Olympic sports in a bill does not mean those athletes are actually protected, she writes. Even where protections apply, they expire, and athletes are not given a right under this bill to go to court and enforce them. If we are going to tell athletes that this bill protects their opportunities, we should also tell them the facts. Well, Caitlin, you are right. People are lying to you.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Section 121 preempts certain State-level laws related to civil rights, privacy, and data breaches. That means, if an athlete's civil rights are violated, if their health records are leaked online, or their personal information is somehow misused by their conference or the university, the athlete will have fewer legal protections and fewer options available for them to seek justice. How can we have a nation that is basically saying: We are not just going to put the NCAA in charge of your lives, but we are going to take away your ability to seek legal redress? Fifth, this bill offers only temporary protections for women's and Olympic sports while permanent antitrust exemptions for the NCAA. The sponsors of this bill say it will protect women's and Olympic sports, but section 125 has a sunset.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“It is fundamentally unfair to put all of this on the college athlete and for this body to hand over permanent antitrust exemptions and give no enforcement mechanism than to trust the institution that has been violating athletes' rights for decades. We are basically telling teenagers and young people in sports: You need to come up with the time, the money, the lawyers to challenge the person who has violated your rights, the same person who happens to control your destiny. It is not a serious way to make sure this bill is properly enforced. Congress puts independent groups together or assigns it to oversight committees like the FTC to enforce rules all over this country. Why not now? Fourth, this bill undermines States' ability to protect college athletes' rights.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“President Johnson said: The so-called Protect College Sports Act does little to actually protect the student athletes who make this multibillion-dollar industry possible. Instead, it shields powerful institutions from accountability while asking Black athletes to surrender their rights, their leverage and their voice. So now, just as athletes all across America are finally starting to share in the value they are creating, they are starting to finally get voices that are recognized by courts and State legislatures, we are told that Congress must immediately step in, 30-plus days from an election, to save college sports. But who are we saving it from, and what are we saving it for? The answer to those questions is actually in the text of the bill, to know what this is really about.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“They have developed over recent years more power and more leverage, and that is a scary thing for the NCAA. I want to be honest about one point--about who creates a disproportionate amount of that value. That is actually Black athletes. They have an outsize role in building college sports into the economic powerhouse it is because they are overrepresented in the revenue- driving sports. Think about this: In men's basketball, Black Americans are 44 percent of the players. In football, it is 40 percent of the players. They are overrepresented in these powerful, money-generating sports. For decades, these athletes were shut out from sharing in the value they created, the billions of dollars of revenue they created. They were shut out of it. So this is not just a college sports issue; it is an economic justice issue and a civil rights issue.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“In most States, it is the highest paid State employee. In 2025 alone, 15 fired coaches secured buyouts worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. That is $250 million paid to coaches not to coach. You hear people running around here lobbying, saying: Oh, we have a financial crisis in college sports. Nobody is trying to deal with that issue. And now we see the TV deals growing bigger and bigger and bigger. The SEC has a deal worth about $3 billion over 10 years. The Big Ten's deal is worth $7 billion over 7 years. The wealth and money are growing. That is why the lobbyists and millionaires were down here lobbying. This is big business, folks. It has been big business for years. What has changed is that the athletes were finally beginning to be able to have the fight for the share in the value that they create.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“The NCAA has spent years now pursuing a legislative strategy here in Congress to cement their control over athletes, to put it into Federal law that they alone have the power and the control over those athletes. With this bill we are about to do--should it be passed in the House and signed by the President--it is a bill for the control and power of the NCAA and member institutions. It is not about athletes, who are winning their rights, winning court cases, gaining leverage, and now are having that taken away from them. It is important to understand just how big of a business this is. This is why we see commercials during games we are watching, millions of dollars of lobbyists--because this is a $20 billion industry. Today, more than 40 college football coaches make more than $5 million a year.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Back in 2014, I said to the then- president of the NCAA when he testified before Congress--very bluntly, I told him: [I]t is exploitation when you have an athlete working 60 to 70 hours a week but [yet still] not . . . able to afford the basic necessities. If [an athlete is] going into their own pocket after giving up their knees . . . to make millions of dollars for the university and [those universities aren't] even compensating them appropriately, that . . . is exploitation of a college athlete. That was me back in 2014 to the then-head of the NCAA. Twelve years later, athletes have won important new rights through their own tireless advocacy at State legislatures, in courts, but now what do we see? We see that the NCAA's desire for control has not subsided. In fact, it has grown.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“So, today, I am going to do my best to elevate the concerns of college athletes, the concerns that over this last decade they have shared with me, concerns that I have learned myself because I love college sports. In an increasingly divided country, college sports is one of the few things that actually bring us together. There is something special about college sports, and U.S. college sports--heck, there is something uniquely American about them. I was lucky enough to be a part of that. I played Division I football at Stanford. I know firsthand what athletes sacrifice. I know what the system too often denies them in return. That is why I have spent my entire Senate career fighting for justice for college athletes. This is not a new issue for me.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Well, this is a bill, going forward, where college athletes and the organizations that represent them have not had a seat at the table. It is a bill that was actually shaped by millions of dollars in lobbying from the NCAA and other powerful interests that control that industry. And at its core, it is a bill that undermines the rights of young people who pour their blood, sweat, tears, countless hours of work, and more into their craft. Their voices should have shaped this debate. We should have listened to their wisdom before voting today, before rushing to this vote as the last thing we do before a long recess. Plain and simple, athletes produce this wealth, produce these opportunities, create this industry, and they should have been at the table, but they weren't given that chance.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, I am so grateful to be recognized. It is amazing how for more than 14 years in this place, I was trying to get Congress to step in to do something to help athletes, but the answer was no, no, no. But suddenly, when college athletes start winning cases in court against a $20 billion gravy train that has been benefiting everybody but college athletes, suddenly there seems to be this race to pass a bill to allegedly protect college athletes. But really, we know who this bill is protecting. The Senate is on the verge--it really could happen tonight--of passing a bill that could reshape college sports for generations to come. It is a bill that was written without input from college athletes themselves, whose lives will be directly affected. It violates a simple rule: nothing about us without us.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“These issues demand our urgent attention. It is time for a special session of Congress. The time is now. Vote on Motion”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“In my letter to the White House more than 3 years ago, I closed by emphasizing the importance of human agency, our collective responsibility to decide what role this technology should play in our lives rather than letting the technology or its developers decide for us. That profound responsibility remains ours today. I will always be a prisoner of hope. I will never let despair have the last word. I know how technology can lift people up. I have lived it. My dad came from humble beginnings and became one of IBM's top salesmen. But we will only unlock the promise of this technology if it is done in a democratic fashion wherein the people decide, not tech billionaires or trillionaires and not Donald Trump. And it is ridiculous that the House of Representatives decided to pack up and leave town. Again, AI will not recess.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“We have a government that moves too slowly to deliver what people need and corruption that moves too fast to protect the people. And now Americans are seeing multitrillion-dollar firms building technology that they say will exceed humans at all cognitive and physical tasks. Their anxiety is warranted, and it cannot be set aside. It cannot be dismissed like Donald Trump is doing in calling it a hoax. Americans are demanding that we act. They are demanding leadership. And we must deliver. We have a rare convergence of early warning signs, practical options that are available, and a growing consensus for action, including among the American people, who understand what is at stake and are rightfully demanding that policymakers stand up.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“I think, in addition, which I talked about, we should establish whistleblower protections for lab employees, strengthen requirements for securing frontier model weights, establish a National Transportation Safety Board-like entity for investigating AI incidents, prepare for the potential emergence of AI systems capable of autonomously improving themselves, preserve States' ability to protect their own people in the absence of meaningful Federal standards, reject antitrust exemptions that hurt customers and competition, and, yes, put the brakes on the development of capabilities whose risks outrun our ability to manage them. Look, Americans feel beat down right now--forgotten--and that feeling is justified. Prices are up for rent, food, utilities. Hiring is flat.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“In July 2023, I wrote to the White House about the future of AI and what we should do as a country to prepare for it. It was clear to me then that we were seeing the early sparks of a technology that could have profound effects on our society, our economy, and our security. Back then, I advocated for rigorous predeployment testing of advanced models, independent evaluations and audits, incident reporting and investigation, supply chain security, international coordination, and the need for a careful and disciplined approach to the pace of AI development.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“AI could help scientists discover lifesaving drugs, detect diseases earlier, accelerate scientific breakthroughs, transform education, increase the productivity of American workers, help small businesses compete, and give millions of people access to capabilities that were once available only to those with wealth and power, but none of these positive outcomes are possible without action by the government to make sure AI is safe, trusted by people, and that its benefits are broadly shared. AI cannot become another chapter in an old story where extraordinary new technologies create extraordinary new wealth and power for a small number of people while working Americans are asked to absorb the disruption, bear the costs, and wait patiently for the benefits to reach them. I have been calling for safety interventions for years.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“We do not know whether the most catastrophic scenarios will ever occur, but when credible experts warn of consequences, this grave, responsible government does not panic, but it does not dismiss them either; it goes to work. Second, we must confront the harms happening right now. Americans are already encountering AI through increasingly sophisticated scams targeting seniors and families, mass surveillance, threats to privacy, disruption in the workplace, and systems that can affect the prices people pay. The future risks of AI demand our attention, but so do the people being harmed by it today. Third and final, we must seize the extraordinary possibilities this technology offers.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“The technology will continue to advance, the risks will continue to evolve, and the consequences of getting this wrong will not wait for Congress to return. This should stand above petty partisanship. It should be about one thing--putting the safety and security of the American people first. I want to focus on three challenges, the three challenges before us now. First, we must protect against potentially catastrophic harms. Serious people, including the researchers and leaders inside the companies developing the most advanced AI, are warning about dangerous biological or cyber capabilities and the emergence of systems that behave in ways humans cannot reliably predict or control.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Athletes have been winning in court, and now we are coming in and taking away their leverage, their bargaining power. We are settling issues that are still open. Hey, I would actually respect it if they said ``You know what, we are going to give a 10-year antitrust exemption and come back and revisit this,'' but, no, they are giving it permanently. Nobody can justify to me--nobody can--as to why college coaches don't get the exact same treatment in this bill as people who are playing on the field; why they can transfer willy-nilly; why they don't have to disclose all of their side's endorsement deals. Why are you treating the college kids differently than you are treating the coaches if it is all about the money? I am going to come down more and talk. I didn't intend to do that today.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“What doesn't seem to be understood by folks is that athletes right now all across this country and their organizations are begging for this bill not to pass. What we are doing here in Congress is truly exemplary. We are giving a permanent antitrust exemption that, as conservative Justices have said, is not seen in other areas of enterprise in the United States of America--rarely seen--and we are giving few rights to athletes but that of ``Oh, you can sue.'' Well, as a guy who played and who was competing for a starting tight end position, am I going to sue my school? I have seen all of these posts by athletes saying: You have got to be kidding me. My coaches tell me to play injured. I do that. I don't sue them, when they are clearly not concerned about my well-being.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“She has worked so hard on this bill, and she has worked so hard. I don't think it is done yet. I think she would admit that there are things that we can improve. She is an extraordinary legislator, and I am sure she would admit that this bill isn't perfect and that more can be done, especially on the equity and treatment of athletes over coaches. I am sure she would say that because she said it to me. This is an extraordinary legislator on the Democratic side who has been leading this. I have reverence and respect for her. I played college football. I talk to college football players all the time. I go back and talk to college football teams. I am very involved in the space. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for being a High School All-American who got an unbelievable shot at a full scholarship at Stanford.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“A settlement agreement. We are inserting ourselves between the parties to say that we know what is better than athletes being able to negotiate for themselves. You see, I paused for a question because I thought my colleague was going to try to stand up and defend section 125 because she spoke very passionately, my colleague, about protecting women's sports. Well, again, the simple question is, Why do things that protect Olympic and women's sports expire? Why does that expire and not the permanent antitrust exemptions we are giving a cartel--a monopolistic organization--that is violating the rights of women consistently? That is indefensible.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“And now my colleague says: Oh, we want to rush and help athletes. That is why the colleges and wealthy donors are really excited about this bill. It is because it is going to make sure that the future lawsuits are cut off, that they have all the antitrust exemptions. Why do you think you see that the trial lawyers organizations and others who have been representing college athletes in getting them some modicum of justice are not in favor of this bill? That is rich. We don't need your help. Athletes groups don't need your help. They don't want it. They haven't asked for it. But yet, somehow, you think you are helping them, but who you are helping are the wealthy colleges. Are there any other questions before I move on to my remarks about AI?”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“She is talking about enshrining in law this idea of revenue sharing. Time and time again, even to the Supreme Court, when conservative Justices joined with Justices appointed by Democrats, they have affirmed college athletes' power. They have gotten power through the courts. What this does is it heads off their legal abilities by enshrining these laws. ``Let it play out in the courts'' is what every athlete organization is saying. Why are you trying to suddenly be concerned about college athletes and enshrine things that we are winning in court case after court case. This is the hypocrisy here. For years and years and years, I have watched my own image on Madden's video game--my own image--and never got paid for that. And now athletes bring it to the courts and win, time and time again?”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Thank you. And before I go, if there is anybody on the floor, I will pause for a question on this issue. If anyone wants to do a colloquy, I will.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Why college athletes have not been involved with this, or their organizations, makes no sense. I would like, in the record, that my now remarks on AI be separated from these reactionary remarks to the stuff that is being said that doesn't hold true with the text of the actual bill.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“I will do everything possible to put on the Congressional Record why this is a betrayal of college athletes, their safety, and their well-being. And I am not saying there are not good things in this bill. I am not saying there are not things that have been incorporated that are important. But time and time again, it comes up short. A better deal for the universities. A better deal for the wealthy. A better deal for coaches. But athletes? They get the short end of this. And that is why folks are out here doing everything they can. Athletes' groups, civil rights groups, trial lawyers, so many are saying: This is wrong. We can do better. Why are we rushing to this bill when the No. 1 issue in America right now is rising costs? Rushing to this bill, 47 days before an election, makes no sense to me.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗
“Why are you treating that elite class differently than you are treating athletes? That is not true. I can go on and on and on, and I will. I will come back to this floor. I will do interviews. I am going to make sure people know the facts about this bill. Because when this bill passes, and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and others get what they want, athletes are going to be out of luck. And when 4 or 9 years pass and Olympic sports are being cut and women's sports are being cut, a lot of people in here are going to forget the shortcomings of this bill, but I will not, and nor will athletes. This bill is a threat to college sports. It is a threat to college athletes. That is why every major organization is against it. I have more details. I will come down here and read paragraphs of this bill.”
Senate17 September 2026Source ↗