Congress can't agree on securing the border or taming inflation, but both parties have found something worth cooperating on: regulating your Saturday entertainment and your digital wallet.
The Protect College Sports Act just cleared its latest procedural hurdle with 74 Senate votes, and a cryptocurrency tax bill is advancing with similar bipartisan wind at its back after a House vote earlier this month. When both parties agree, that's usually where the public gets sold out — and this time they're doing it while the country's actual emergencies go unaddressed.
The PCSA, co-authored by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, would impose federal rules on college athletics — an industry navigating a patchwork of state laws, NCAA rules, and court decisions since the name, image, and likeness era began in 2021. Cruz promoted the bill on ESPN's College GameDay two weeks ago and was loudly booed for his trouble, the Deseret News reported. The bill has now won five procedural votes with at least 70 votes each time, needing 60 for final passage expected Monday.
Meanwhile, Sen. Steve Daines, a retiring Republican on the Finance Committee, is circulating draft cryptocurrency tax legislation expected to be formally introduced next week, according to Bloomberg Tax News. The House already passed a bipartisan crypto tax bill earlier this month. Daines wants to, in his office's words, "set down a marker" before he departs — a fitting image for a Congress that marks territory on everything except what actually matters.
President Trump is scheduled to attend Saturday's Texas-Tennessee game in Knoxville, putting the PCSA's legislative moment under an even bigger spotlight. The White House confirmed the appearance. The game already featured ESPN's College GameDay, Arch Manning's first visit to Neyland Stadium, and two undefeated SEC teams. Now it doubles as a stage for the political class to celebrate its latest bipartisan achievement — federal guardrails for a multi-billion-dollar entertainment product that nobody asked Washington to fix.
The Deseret News framed the PCSA as an attempt to provide "a more uniform set of rules for an industry that increasingly operates like a national commercial enterprise." Bloomberg Tax News framed the crypto push as lawmakers "riding a wave of enthusiasm" after the House vote. Neither outlet noted the obvious: this is a Congress that can move mountains for college football conferences and digital asset traders but can't find 60 votes to fund a border wall or rein in the administrative state.
Seventy-plus senators can agree on federal oversight of college football. A bipartisan House majority can agree on crypto tax clarity. But ask this Congress to seal the border, cut spending, or dismantle the permanent bureaucracy, and suddenly the votes disappear. Priorities reveal who they really serve — and it isn't you.
