After a frantic Friday filled with amendments, objections and pressure from the President to keep lawmakers in Washington, supporters believed they had a path to a vote before the August recess.Senators and aides were called back to the Capitol late Friday night as momentum appeared to be building.But in the early morning hours on Saturday, that push came up short.Unfortunately for Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., along with Eric Schmitt, R-Mo, they could not garner enough support for a vote.TED CRUZ URGES SENATE TO STAY IN WASHINGTON UNTIL PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT PASSES THIS WEEK"The Protect College Sports Act continues to show great momentum.
Sens Cruz and Schmitt have worked tirelessly with the support of nearly every conference in the country, HBCUs and the Olympic sports committee.It's clear that this bill is the only way to save college sports and women’s sports," Cruz and Schmitt said in a statement early Saturday morning."While we are disappointed that we could not get the unanimous consent agreement to finish this week, we locked in a guaranteed vote in September.
With the strong support of President Trump, we look forward to him signing the bill on college game day in the Fall."In what turned out to be an intense day of negotiations, Senators from both sides of the aisle met numerous times to discuss the legislation that kept college athletic officials and reporters glued to their phones over the previous 72 hours.When the SEC and Big Ten voted to put their support behind the bipartisan legislation just one week ago, there was hope among everyone involved that they could get the bill to the Senate floor and send it to the House before the congressional recess.Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, left, and Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington and ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, during a h...