Tina Smith confronts Mike Lee over "cruel" response to Minnesota shootings
Sen. Tina Smith directly confronted Sen. Mike Lee on Monday over the Utah Republican's posts about the shooting of Minnesota lawmakers.
Why it matters: "I needed him to hear from me directly, what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague," Smith (D-Minn.) told reporters about their conversation.
She declined to share details of Lee's reaction, but said, "I think that he, honestly, he seemed a little surprised to be confronted."
Driving the news: Lee wrote two posts on X over the weekend that featured Vance Luther Boelter, the suspect in Saturday's shootings that killed one Minnesota lawmaker and injured another.
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- Boston Globe
MAGA loyalists can be mean, but so can progressive Democrats
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up How could a movement devoted to advancing social and economic justice, and with that, the rights of marginalized groups, also stand for meanness? Just ask Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who enraged activists on the left Advertisement 'I'm human,' Moulton told me in an interview, allowing that such personal attacks can sting. But ultimately, he said, 'I don't care how mean people are. We need to start winning. If one party is banning books and the other is banning debate, that is not a good place for democracy. The Democratic Party has historically been the party of open-mindedness and tolerance and intellectual discussion. That doesn't mean canceling people you disagree with. A lot of Americans feel that Democrats go around preaching down to their fellow Americans — if you disagree with me, you're not only wrong, you're a bad person. That's no way to win people to your side.' Advertisement After all, who wants to be called racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic? It's easier to remain silent, Moulton said. In practice, that can mean being mean. 'It's very intentionally about hurting people — and they're effective at it,' said Liam Kerr, cofounder of the Welcome Party, which is trying to build a movement around what it defines as the political center. Advertisement In one example, Kerr cites Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who was elected to Congress in 2022 as a Democrat in a Republican district in southwestern Washington state. After she crossed over to vote with Republicans on a bill to repeal Biden's student loan relief initiative in 2023, she became the target of what Kerr also blames leftist activists for the decisions of some centrist Democrats to leave elected office. For example, in 2021, then-senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was chased into the bathroom after she declined to speak to pro-immigration activists, and that same year activists in kayaks surrounded the houseboat owned by then-senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to demand he support Biden's infrastructure bill. More recently, Representative Jared Golden of Maine was denounced by progressive activists after he wrote Before he took on Trump for sending the Marines and the National Guard to California, where rallies against Trump immigration policies were playing out, Governor Gavin Newsom was also blasted for inviting Trump loyalists to join his podcast. How mean is that compared with Trump's agenda? 'MAGA is probably more mean in the actual policies they advocate,' Kerr acknowledged — and I agree. There is no parity between the cruelty of Trump's policies and the insults hurled at Democrats who edge toward the center. Advertisement But to win, Democrats still need a coalition broad enough to defeat MAGA's meanness. That means recalculating how far they want to go with their own mean politics. Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
2 hours ago
Louisiana is poised to hike its sports betting tax to help colleges pay their athletes
Louisiana is poised to hike taxes on sports betting to pump more than $24 million into athletic departments at the state's most prominent public universities. Legislation pending before Gov. Jeff Landry would make Louisiana the first state to raise taxes to fund college sports since a judge approved a landmark settlement with the NCAA allowing schools to directly pay athletes for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). Anticipating the court's approval, Arkansas this year became the first to waive state income taxes on NIL payments made to athletes by higher education institutions. More states seem almost certain to adopt their own creative ways to gain an edge — or at least keep pace — in the rapidly evolving and highly competitive field of college sports. 'These bills, and the inevitable ones that will follow, are intended to make states 'college-athlete friendly,'' said David Carter, founder of the Sports Business Group consultancy and an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California. But 'they will no doubt continue to stoke the debate about the `perceived' preferential treatment afforded athletes.' The new NCCA rules allowing direct payments to college athletes kick in July 1. In the first year, each Division I school can share up to $20.5 million with its athletes — a figure that may be easier to meet for big-time programs than for smaller schools weighing whether to divert money from other purposes. The settlement also continues to allow college athletes to receive NIL money from third parties, such as donor-backed collectives that support specific schools. The Louisiana legislation won final approval just two days after a judge approved the antitrust settlement between the NCAA and athletes, but it had been in the works for months. Athletic directors from many of Louisiana's universities met earlier this year and hashed out a plan with lawmakers to relieve some of their financial pressures by dividing a share of the state's sports betting tax revenue. The biggest question for lawmakers was how large of a tax increase to support. The initial proposal sought to double the state's 15% tax on net proceeds from online sports betting. But lawmakers ultimately agreed on a 21.5% tax rate in a compromise with the industry. One-quarter of the tax revenue from online sports wagering — an estimated $24.3 million — would be split equally among 11 public universities in conferences with Division I football programs. The money must be used 'for the benefit of student athletes,' including scholarships, insurance, medical coverage, facility enhancements and litigation settlement fees. The state tax money won't provide direct NIL payments to athletes. But it could facilitate that indirectly by freeing up other university resources. The legislation passed overwhelmingly in the final days of Louisiana's annual session. 'We love football in Louisiana – that's the easiest way to say it,' said Republican state Rep. Neil Riser, who sponsored the bill. Many colleges and universities across the country have been feeling a financial squeeze, but it's especially affected the athletic departments of smaller schools. Athletic departments in the top Division I football conferences take in millions of dollars from media rights, donors, corporate sponsors and ticket sales, with a median of just 7% coming from student fees and institutional and government support, according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database. But the remaining schools in Division I football bowl conferences got a median of 63% of the revenue from such sources last year. And schools without football teams got a median of 81% of their athletic department revenues from institutional and governmental support or student fees. Riser said Louisiana's smaller universities, in particular, have been struggling financially and have shifted money from their general funds to their sports programs to try to remain competitive. At the same time, the state has taken in millions of dollars of tax revenue from sports bets made at least partly on college athletics. 'Without the athletes, we wouldn't have the revenue. I just felt like it's fairness that we do give something back and, at the same time, help the general funds of the universities,' Riser said. Louisiana would become the second state behind North Carolina to dedicate a portion of its sports wagering revenues to colleges athletics. North Carolina launched online sports wagering last year under a state law earmarking part of an 18% tax on gross gaming revenue to the athletic departments at 13 public universities. The state's two largest institutions were excluded. But that might be about to change. Differing budget plans passed by the state House and Senate this year both would start allotting sports betting tax revenue to the athletic programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The Senate version also would double the tax rate. The proposals come a year after University of North Carolina trustees approved an audit of the athletics department after a preliminary budget projected about $100 million of debt in the years ahead. Other schools also are taking actions because of deficits in their athletic departments. Last week, University of Kentucky trustees approved a $31 million operating loan for the athletics department as it begins making direct NIL payments to athletes. That came after trustees in April voted to convert the Kentucky athletics department into a limited-liability holding company — Champions Blue LLC — to more nimbly navigate the emerging financial pressures. Given the money involved in college athletics, it's not surprising that states are starting to provide tax money to athletic departments or — as in Arkansas' case — tax relief to college athletes, said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis. 'If you can attract better athletes to your schools and your states, then this is more visibility to your states, this is more potential out-of-town economic activity for your state," Rishe said. 'I do think you're going to see many states pursue this, because you don't want to be the state that's left exposed or at a disadvantage.'
2 hours ago
Senate expected to pass crypto bill without addressing Trump's investments
WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to approve legislation Tuesday that would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, the first of what is expected to be a wave of crypto legislation from Congress that the industry hopes will bolster its legitimacy and reassure consumers. The fast-moving legislation, which will be sent to the House for potential revisions, comes on the heels of a 2024 campaign cycle where the crypto industry ranked among the top political spenders in the country, underscoring its growing influence in Washington and beyond. Eighteen Democratic senators have shown support for the legislation as it has advanced, siding with the Republican majority in the 53-47 Senate. If passed, it would become the second major bipartisan bill to advance through the Senate this year, following the Laken Riley Act on immigration enforcement in January. Still, most Democrats oppose the bill. They have raised concerns that the measure does little to address President Donald Trump's personal financial interests in the crypto space. 'We weren't able to include certainly everything we would have wanted, but it was a good bipartisan effort," said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., on Monday. She added, 'This is an unregulated area that will now be regulated.' Known as the GENIUS Act, the bill would establish guardrails and consumer protections for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. The acronym stands for 'Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.' It's expected to pass Tuesday, since it only requires a simple majority vote — and it already cleared its biggest procedural hurdle last week in a 68-30 vote. But the bill has faced more resistance than initially expected. There is a provision in the bill that bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. But that prohibition does not extend to the president and his family, even as Trump builds a crypto empire from the White House. Trump hosted a private dinner last month at his golf club with top investors in a Trump-branded meme coin. His family holds a large stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president's relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The administration is broadly supportive of crypto's growth and its integration into the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said the legislation could help push the U.S. stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — the nation's largest crypto exchange and a major advocate for the bill — has met with Trump and praised his early moves on crypto. This past weekend, Coinbase was among the more prominent brands that sponsored a parade in Washington commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary — an event that coincided with Trump's 79th birthday. But the crypto industry emphasizes that they view the legislative effort as bipartisan, pointing to champions on each side of the aisle. 'The GENIUS Act will be the most significant digital assets legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate,' Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said ahead of a key vote last week. 'It's the product of months of bipartisan work.' The bill did hit one rough patch in early May, when a bloc of Senate Democrats who had previously supported the bill reversed course and voted to block it from advancing. That prompted new negotiations involving Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House, which ultimately produced the compromise version expected to win passage Tuesday. 'There were many, many changes that were made. And ultimately, it's a much better deal because we were all at the table,' Alsobrooks said. Still, the bill leaves unresolved concerns over presidential conflicts of interest — an issue that remains a source of tension within the Democratic caucus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been among the most outspoken as the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, warning that the bill creates a 'super highway' for Trump corruption. She has also warned that the bill would allow major technology companies, such as Amazon and Meta, to launch their own stablecoins. If the stablecoin legislation passes the Senate on Tuesday, it still faces several hurdles before reaching the president's desk. It must clear the narrowly held Republican majority in the House, where lawmakers may try to attach a broader market structure bill — sweeping legislation that could make passage through the Senate more difficult. Trump has said he wants stablecoin legislation on his desk before Congress breaks for its August recess, now just under 50 days away.
