The Senate just wrapped up one of the most chaotic pre-recess scrambles in recent memory, and the drama was absolutely delicious.
Lawmakers were racing against the clock to knock out a pile of major votes before skipping town for their cushy month-long August vacation. On the agenda? Confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general, pushing through a temporary government funding bill, and clearing a stack of other legislation. But as Conservative Brief reported, an unexpected wrench got thrown into the entire operation.
So what was the mysterious roadblock holding up the most powerful legislative body on the planet? College sports. Seriously. A bipartisan proposal setting up federal rules around name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes became the thing nobody saw coming. One senator actually called the NIL legislation a "chokepoint" that was gumming up negotiations. Imagine telling voters back home that you couldn't fund the government because lawmakers got stuck arguing about whether a college quarterback can sell protein shakes.
Despite that bizarre hiccup, the biggest headline belonged to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The Republican had been the final holdout on Blanche's nomination to lead the Department of Justice. All eyes were on him Friday when he marched onto the Senate floor and announced he would vote yes. Cassidy knew exactly what was coming, telling colleagues plainly that he expected to catch heat for his decision. He made clear that he had weighed the matter carefully on behalf of the people he represents. With Cassidy flipping to yes, Blanche was officially confirmed in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Friday also saw the Senate approve a sweeping sanctions package targeting Russia. That bill, named after its chief sponsor, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, sailed through with an overwhelming 86 to 11 bipartisan vote.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump spent Friday bouncing between policy sessions at the White House and a roundtable over at the State Department before heading to Bedminster, New Jersey for the evening.
And here is one more juicy nugget that dropped late in the week. Senate investigators got their hands on a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci's government-issued iPhone from his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services. The device was handed over to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. What is actually on that phone remains a total mystery at this point. Nobody knows what data can be recovered or what secrets it might hold. Sen. Johnson confirmed the transfer on X, saying the device could potentially answer questions that Fauci refused to address during his recent hearing.
The temporary spending bill had already cleared procedural hurdles with strong support from both parties, so that looked likely to pass once leaders sorted out their remaining squabbles. But the college athletics standoff was still unresolved as the recess clock ticked down. Washington at its finest, folks.
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