Reporter’s Notebook: House Dems question sports bill timing amid Lane Kiffin controversy

There’s no easy solution in Congress to fix spiking healthcare premiums by the end of the year.

“Republicans are sleepwalking America straight into a healthcare crisis,” thundered Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The sides lack consensus so far on bills to avoid a partial government shutdown in late January.

“We still have a lot of work to do on them,” said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.

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So many pressing subjects facing Congress over the next few weeks, so little time.

“I’m literally thinking and watching the clock in front of me tick,” said Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.

So it’s little surprise why House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had questions about why the House planned debate on a bill last week about money in big-time college sports. Jeffries had specific questions for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., both graduates of Louisiana State University, and superfans of the Tigers.

“Who exactly directed Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise to bring this bill to the floor this week? Was it the big donors connected to LSU?” questioned Jeffries. “Why would Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise think it was a good idea to bring the ‘Lane Kiffin Protection Act’ to the floor of the House of Representatives?”

Whoa. “Lane Kiffin Protection Act”?

Congress had a lot to do. And the major bill on the House floor last week was on — wait for it — regulating money in college sports. It came just as Lane Kiffin defected from Ole Miss to LSU for a $91 million contract. And it came while Ole Miss was in the middle of an 11-1 season, is ranked number six in the country and has a chance to compete for the national title.

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The House was set to debate a bill last week which would establish a national standard for NIL or name, image and likeness, in college sports. Major conferences like the Big 10 and SEC love the bill. Smaller schools, not so much. But multiple lawmakers told Fox News that they thought it was bad optics for the House to consider a bill about college sports — just as Kiffin headed to LSU.

“LSU is the best job in football,” declared Kiffin at a press conference.

I pressed Jeffries about his Kiffin charge regarding Johnson and Scalise after his press conference.

“We know that Johnson and Scalise are both partisans of LSU, but do you know something here? You’re suggesting that there’s something going on between LSU and them to put a piece of legislation on the floor?” I queried.

“No. It’s just a reasonable question that a lot of people are actually asking on the floor of the House of Representatives. Like, ‘Why now?’” answered Jeffries. “And what kind of judgment does it take to put that bill on the floor this week in the aftermath of the whole Lane Kiffin saga?”

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House Republicans struggled to hurdle a procedural barrier in order to put the bill on the floor. Then Republican leaders yanked the bill. Scalise said the bipartisan coalition which supported the bill “was fragile.” But Scalise denied the coincidence about Kiffin and abruptly dumping the legislation from the House schedule.

“To be 100% clear, Lane Kiffin, the situation at LSU, had nothing to do with this bill getting pulled?” yours truly asked Scalise.

“This had nothing to do with Lane Kiffin or, you know, any particular school,” replied Scalise.

Some lawmakers said Kiffin’s brazen departure from Ole Miss underscores what vexes college sports.

“I think the Kiffin issue is emblematic,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who had issues with the NIL bill. “It certainly demonstrates how broken this whole system is. It’s just ridiculous.”

Roy asked why Congress wasn’t throwing a handbrake on the dizzying coaching carousel which spins this time of year in college football.

“Why in the hell are we allowing coaches to walk out and be paid not to coach for years?” asked Roy. “What we just saw unfold with Lane Kiffin is just an absolute abomination.”

Roy argued that there are “massive issues” in college sports and broadcasting rights, making it an “interstate commerce” subject. Thus, Congress has the right to get involved.

“We’re going to have to respond,” said Roy. “What I don’t want to do is to continue to perpetuate the madness of the University of California, Berkeley, being in the Atlantic Coast Conference and forcing athletes of all sports to have to travel across the frigging continent so that rich people can have sports in different time zones, on contracts, on TV. It’s asinine.”

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The bill regulates how much student-athletes can earn from NILs. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., conceded that the measure was far from perfect. But Griffith says it “affirms the student-athletes’ right to profit from their name, image, and likeness, or NIL.”

Griffith said the bill would set one standard for NILs and prevent universities and athletes navigating “30 state laws and athletes jumping from team to team.”

But critics say it tilts the playing field toward athletic powerhouses. They pinned the responsibility on the House GOP majority.

“Of course, they have a bill to help the NCAA take advantage of student-athletes. Because, you know, what this Congress desperately needed was another billionaire organization empowered to squeeze young people,” lamented Rep. Jim McGovern, of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee.

Griffith countered by saying the legislation “was a first step. But not the last step in trying to solve problems that we have in our college athletics.”

Even though the bill is off the calendar now, Scalise believes the legislation will come back later this month.

“If Congress takes no action, then ultimately, college athletics and especially student-athletes will suffer the price for it,” said Scalise.

The legislation mandates that schools share revenue and bars institutions from using student fees to fork out NIL money.

So we’ll see if the bill comes back before the end of the year. But for now, there’s no agreement to do so. And lawmakers haven’t worked out an agreement yet on healthcare or spending bills, either.

And they can’t blame Lane Kiffin for that.