👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you. The midterms are in 36 days.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined the bipartisan criticism of the Trump administration’s taxpayer-funded advertising campaign this afternoon, telling reporters he likes the president’s message but not who is footing the bill.
“I don’t think he’s said exactly where the money’s coming from,” Thune said. “It’s a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”
The comments come after the administration aired a new ad during NFL games and Sunday programming over the weekend that closely mirrors a Trump 2024 campaign spot and ends with the disclosure: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements while lawmakers in both parties have questioned whether public funds should be used to promote the president.
VIEW FROM THE HILL
The Senate is poised to pass the Protect College Sports Act tonight with the kind of bipartisan margin that would ordinarily give a bill considerable momentum across the Capitol.
But at least four Senate Democrats who have resisted the legislation are warning their House colleagues not to mistake a lopsided Senate vote for a settled debate over the future of college sports.
Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) told me that House Democrats should use the additional time before the legislation is expected to receive consideration to demand stronger protections for college athletes and rebalance a bill they argue gives too much power to the institutions that govern college sports.
The message comes ahead of a final Senate vote this evening after each of the bill’s previous procedural hurdles cleared with at least 70 votes. But the legislation faces a more complicated path in the House, where members in both parties have raised concerns and lawmakers are not expected to consider it until the lame-duck session at the earliest.
The vote also comes as senators face pressure to show voters they are focused on a more immediate concern: the cost of living. Recent polling has consistently found affordability at or near the top of voters’ priorities heading into the midterms. Senate Republicans reinforced that urgency themselves last week when several members pushed leadership to bring the chamber back this week rather than leave Washington to campaign, in part to give them another opportunity to vote on legislation aimed at lowering household costs.
That creates an unusual split screen for the Senate’s final stretch before the election. The PCSA is a priority for Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the college-sports institutions that have spent years pressing Congress for a national framework. But senators are simultaneously racing to demonstrate that they are responding to voters whose concerns are much closer to the kitchen table.
