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The key focus of this election, like many before it, is the economy, but the Senate has spent its waning weeks in Washington focusing on something else: college sports.
And that has proven a sticking point for some Republicans who are eager to maintain power in the upper chamber and worried that they aren’t meeting the moment to address voters’ concerns over the cost-of-living.
“I’m just hoping that this will be the best bill ever passed by the United States Senate considering the ungodly amount of time we’ve spent on it,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital.
“So maybe this will be the most perfect and pristine piece of legislation ever,” he quipped.
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“There’s a lot of things we could be doing and should be doing,” the senator added. “So I hope we’ll do those before we leave. We’ll see.”
Hawley rattled off those issues that he hoped lawmakers would tackle that all ended in one word, costs — be it for fuel, prescription drugs, health care or the financial burden of the artificial intelligence boom.
The Senate is expected to leave the nation’s capital on Wednesday to hit the campaign trail for the homestretch of the fast-approaching midterm elections. But from the summer of 2025 to now, with several shutdowns and partisan fights in between, the sting on voters’ wallets, to some concerned Republicans, has become an afterthought.
Still, Republicans are quick to tout their accomplishments from last year, notably the “big, beautiful bill,” as their signature achievement to tackle the growing issue of affordability in the country — it was a predominant pitch during the midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month, and can be heard increasingly in the halls of the Senate as Nov. 3 nears.
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The concern over inaction in the recent weeks and months has intensified as the main business in the Senate has been devoted to passing the Protect College Sports Act from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which cruised through the upper chamber late Monday night.
“We’ve been spending all week on trying to make the football coaches happy,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “I’m voting for the bill, but I can assure that moms and dads out there across America, when they lie down to sleep at night … they’re not worried about the football coaches.”
Kennedy said that he and others have been pressuring Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to take another shot at reconciliation tailored exclusively toward affordability issues, or at the very least to put a bill that would shield consumers from increasing electricity costs as part of the AI boom.
“Because we haven’t done a damn thing,” Kennedy said. “And it’s biting us in the ass right now.”
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Thune did tee up what will likely be the Senate’s last attempt at dealing with affordability for a vote this week on a bill that would require AI companies to bear the brunt of rising utility costs from data centers.
That bill, from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, is expected to be blocked by Democrats, however, who aren’t eager to give Republicans or Trump a victory — especially so close to the midterm elections.
But for some Republicans, it’s too little too late when it comes to actually trying to address voters’ worries.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., recalled a story when he won the North Carolina House and became speaker. He ran to fix the economy, and once he won the power to do so, he and Republicans in the state would have to own the issue, regardless of the previous administration’s actions.
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“That’s how you actually show some leadership and get it done. You can’t rationalize that we’re here because of a problem caused by the prior administration,” Tillis told Fox News Digital. “That’s how we got elected. But you gotta fix it if you promise to. And that’s what we have to work on. I just think rationalizing away, that’s just not good politics.”
Still, Republicans are asking for a second chance this fall, specifically Vice President JD Vance, who earlier this month asked voters to “give us another chance.”
When asked about Vance’s plea, Tillis said, “You know what? If it works, it’ll be a first.”
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