Senate Leaves Key Bills Up In The Air As They Ditch Town For Month

The Senate ditched town Saturday without passing several pieces of Republican-backed legislation as the midterm elections loom.

The upper chamber adjourned until Sept. 14 without passing the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a cryptocurrency bill or a third reconciliation package. A group of Republicans supported cancelling recess to pass the SAVE America Act, though they did not force a formal vote on canceling the adjournment.

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jim Banks of Indiana were among the senators calling to cancel recess. President Donald Trump urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel recess to pass the election integrity bill, though Thune argued staying in session would not cause it to pass.

Lee said he called for a vote on cancelling recess, though he settled for a voice vote in exchange for getting several pieces of legislation passed on the floor.

“I keep getting asked why we didn’t have a roll call vote on the recess, as I had repeatedly requested, and ultimately settled for a voice vote,” Lee said. “In this case, the recess was set up as part of the same unanimous consent agreement that allowed us to vote on Blanche, the CR, and the voter ID bill.
Senate GOP leadership made clear that without such a UC agreement, it would take weeks to queue up each of those votes individually—and that some members would start leaving within 24 hours, making it impossible to finish any work at all.”

“So every single senator consented to the UC in order to lock in votes on a few critical items, and I made my consent contingent upon a final vote on whether to recess while still preserving the ability to vote against the recess,” Lee continued. “My request was granted with a voice vote. That was the trade-off.”

The upper chamber did not take up the Clarity Act, a cryptocurrency regulation bill, which may threaten its chances of passing before the midterms. The crypto industry and its supporters in Congress have looked to August as a key deadline to get the legislation across the finish line.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Thursday the Clarity Act would reach the floor in September.

Some Senate Democrats were pushing for language barring elected officials from profiting off of the industry, according to The Hill. The White House agreed to an ethics provision put forward by Senate Republicans that would task the Justice Department with enforcing a ban on public officials and their spouses issuing or sponsoring digital assets, though Democrats argued state attorneys general should enforce the rule.

Republican senators, including Josh Hawley of Missouri, argued the bill could negatively impact banks, likely making leadership hesitant to hold a vote, The Hill reported. The banking industry argued that a stable coin law passed in 2025 left open a loophole that could allow people to shift their deposits out of banks.

Senate leadership scrapped a procedural vote on a $95 billion reconciliation package Saturday, concluding they lacked the votes to pass it. The budget resolution would provide $10 billion for the House Administration Committee to hand out grants to implement the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, $72 billion for the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to address the Iran war and $12 billion to aid struggling farmers. It included no spending offsets to address the $1.37 trillion deficit.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson said Trump agreed to give the package more time for the Senate to shore up support.

“There was a concern whether or not we could actually pass the budget resolution tonight,” Johnson told reporters. “Then we had a discussion with the president. He agrees. Don’t take the vote tonight, and just work diligently through August and September to do an actually … better reconciliation bill.”

The Senate also failed to vote on the Protect College Sports Act, a bill aimed at regulating Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals in college athletics. Senators are expected to vote on the bill in September.

The legislation would grant student athletes a new federal right to earn the compensation and requires their agents to register with a state, according to the bill’s text. It also prohibits agents from misrepresenting name, image and likeness deals and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%.

The bill received some opposition from more than a dozen Republican senators who filed objections or amendments to the legislation. The Congressional Black Caucus and several labor unions released statements criticizing the bill.

“The Congressional Black Caucus has consistently advocated for stronger rights, protections, and economic opportunities for Black athletes and the broader ecosystem that supports them,” the caucus said in a statement. “We have sought stronger athlete protections, greater transparency and accountability, meaningful representation in the governance of college athletics, and policies that expand—not limit—opportunities for Black athletes, Black coaches, Black agents, Black entrepreneurs, and HBCUs. Those priorities are not meaningfully reflected in the legislation before the Senate.”

“Instead, the so-called Protect College Sports Act grants sweeping new legal protections to powerful institutions while failing to adequately protect the athletes whose talent fuels this multibillion-dollar industry,” the statement continued. “It falls short of providing Black athletes with the rights, representation, economic opportunities, and meaningful safeguards they deserve, while also failing to adequately recognize the interests of Black coaches, Black agents, HBCUs, and other professionals whose futures will be shaped by this legislation.”

Some labor unions, including the AFL-CIO and its Sports Council, argued the bill takes collective bargaining rights from athletes, caps compensation without negotiation and grants the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) special immunity from antitrust liability.

Thirteen conservative organizations, including the America First Policy Institute and American Values, wrote a letter urging senators to pass the bill.