WASHINGTON — The president of the NCAA appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday to express support for some federal regulations around sports gambling — including a ban on a type of wager known as “prop bets” in college sports.

In the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for legal sports gambling across the U.S., harassment and abuse directed at student-athletes has grown, said Charlie Baker, speaking to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We believe that when bettors can’t gamble on college athletes’ individual performances, they’re far less likely to attempt to scrutinize, coerce or harass student-athletes,” Baker said.

Proposition bets, or prop bets, are a wager in which a bettor gambles on something besides a game’s final outcome — such as whether a certain player will score, or how many assists they log. Such bets on college sports are currently allowed in about 20 states, or roughly half of those that have legalized sports gambling.

Those wagers can lead to harassment, Baker said. The NCAA says 10 to 15% of its Division I athletes have reported being harassed by bettors — an experience especially common among football and basketball players.

“They get demands for money from unhappy bettors for trivial things that don’t impact the result on the field,” Baker said. “Many have received death threats from bettors, and they also receive other, in-person threats and accusations directed at them while they’re leaving or coming onto the field of play.”

He pointed to the example of Armando Bacot, a University of North Carolina basketball player who said in March that he had received dozens of angry messages from gamblers about the number of rebounds he recorded during an NCAA tournament game.

The harassment also comes in-person from classmates and friends, Baker added. “They basically say, ‘Look, you’re my friend. I’m not looking for you to lose a game, I just need you to miss the first two free throws,'” he said.

Baker also called for federal regulations designed to prevent known harassers from betting again in the future.

Senators met to discuss a bill to regulate sports gambling

Tuesday’s hearing in Congress concerned a bill that would aims to place major regulations on sports gambling. Nearly 40 states, along with the District of Columbia, allow some form of sports gambling.

The industry has grown exponentially since 2018. Last year, Americans wagered an estimated $120 billion on sports. Research and surveys have shown that legalization has led to increases in irresponsible gambling, debt and bankruptcy.

Young men may be at the highest risk. A study commissioned last year by the NCAA found that two-thirds of college-age men have wagered money on sports, and men were more likely to wager very frequently.

The bill, called the “S.A.F.E. Bet Act,” was co-authored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. In addition to banning prop bets in college sports, it would ban gambling platforms from offering promotions like “bonus bets,” limit gambling ads during broadcasts of sporting events, prevent gamblers from using credit cards to make deposits and require gambling companies to conduct affordability checks on high-volume gamblers.

Blumenthal’s bill has little chance of passing before the current session of Congress concludes in January. But Blumenthal and the bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Paul Tonko, are both set to return to Congress next year.

Republicans raise the issue of transgender athletes

Two Republican senators used their time to grill Baker about the issue of transgender women in NCAA women’s sports.

A little more than a half-million student-athletes compete across the NCAA’s three divisions. Of that total, Baker said Tuesday he was aware of fewer than 10 who are transgender.

The politically potent issue resurfaced this fall when a handful of NCAA women’s volleyball teams chose to forfeit matches against San Jose State over reports that one of its players was a transgender woman.

In response to a lawsuit, a federal judge and later a federal appeals court cleared the way for the athlete’s participation — a fact Baker repeatedly pointed to, as Sens. John Kennedy and Josh Hawley criticized the NCAA for allowing her to play.

Some states have passed laws banning trans women and girls from competing in women’s sports. In Idaho and West Virginia, federal judges have temporarily blocked those laws; the two states have appealed to the Supreme Court.

A separate lawsuit, filed in federal court by the anti-trans activist and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, has challenged the NCAA’s policies specifically. The NCAA has asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.

The current legal situation is “murky,” Baker said. “I would love to work with you folks on creating clarity around this question,” he added.

President Biden joined workers’ advocates at the U.S. Labor Department this week to designate a new national monument in honor of FDR’s long-serving labor secretary, Frances Perkins, who famously established the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, a ban on child labor, and myriad other protections.

The gathering was also a chance for the labor community to celebrate another one of their fierce advocates: Biden’s acting secretary of labor, Julie Su.

“[She] has led the Department of Labor in a way that Secretary Perkins would be damn proud of,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler in her introduction to Su. “She has taken the fight to anyone who tries to exploit working people. She has stood with our unions. She has turned DOL into a true house of labor.”

And yet, Su’s legacy will likely be marked with an asterisk. For despite all the labor wins that the Biden administration can claim, getting Su confirmed as labor secretary isn’t among them.

“It should have happened two years ago,” said Shuler in an interview, adding that Su, like her predecessor Perkins, is somewhat of an unsung hero.

“That’s often how women leaders end up in our history books — that their work is often behind the scenes. It’s not recognized and appreciated like it should be.”

But even now, as the Biden era draws to a close, Su’s staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill haven’t given up.

“I’m doing everything I can to get Julie Su confirmed as Secretary of Labor before President Biden leaves office,” Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth wrote in a statement to NPR. “It would represent long overdue recognition of the incredible work she’s done for years — without the title she so obviously deserves.”

A long wait for confirmation

Although Su was confirmed as deputy labor secretary along party lines in 2021, several senators who supported Su then were not on board with her leading the Labor Department upon the departure of Marty Walsh, who was viewed as more moderate, in early 2023.

By July of that year, Republicans began pointing out the irony.

“Julie Su has now waited longer for confirmation by a senate of the same party as the president than any previous cabinet nominee on record,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in floor remarks.

It didn’t appear to matter to Su. As acting secretary, she led the department through an ambitious agenda of rulemaking and enforcement, all while engaging in a series of high-profile labor fights — on behalf of autoworkers, healthcare workers, flight attendants and longshoremen.

As Deputy Labor Secretary, Julie Su takes orders as she is trained to serve tables during a Learn About Worker Experiences event at the Skal restaurant in Brooklyn on April 11, 2022 in New York City.

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images North America

hide caption

toggle caption

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images North America

“Secretary of Labor Julie Su has been terrific,” Harold Daggett, the president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, said on Fox News during the East Coast dockworkers’ strike in October. “She’s knocking down doors. She’s trying to stop this. She’s trying to get us to … where we can have fair negotiations.”

Daggett called off the strike two days later, after the two sides reached a deal on wages that gave dockworkers a 62% pay increase over six years.

In an interview this week, Su said the lack of a confirmation vote did not hold her back. Under her leadership, the Labor Department has collected over $1 billion for workers who experienced wage theft and issued new rules protecting farm workers and miners. On January 13, another rule requiring construction companies to provide safety equipment that properly fits workers is set to take effect.

“For construction workers who are women, that’s going to help save their lives,” says Su.

A last-minute confirmation push

Still, Su’s lack of confirmation has given Republicans an opportunity to hassle her about it on an ongoing basis, as Biden and Republican officials have clashed over a federal law that generally limits how long an official can serve in an acting capacity. 

“You are now the longest serving acting secretary since before the U.S. Civil War — a record that was best left unbroken,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina when Su testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 1.

Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison chose sharper words, calling Su an “illegitimate secretary,” while Rep. Kevin Kiley of California called on her to resign.

“This has gotten ridiculous. You’ve shattered all records as an unconfirmed nominee clinging to power,” said Kiley. “I think every reasonable person looking at this knows that it’s wrong.”

The comments piqued Su’s allies on Capitol Hill, including Duckworth and Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. In recent weeks, they’ve been trying to drum up the votes for her confirmation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer poses for a photo with Julie Su at the U.S. Capitol on March 28, 2023, shortly after she assumed the role of Acting Labor Secretary.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America

hide caption

toggle caption

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America

Just last week, the Senate voted down the reconfirmation of Lauren McFerran, the Democratic chair of the National Labor Relations Board, essentially ensuring that President-elect Donald Trump will have a Republican majority on the five-member board soon after he takes office. Independent Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined Republicans in voting no.

But in her statement to NPR, Duckworth indicated that she had secured 50 votes for Su, writing “it would be a shame if the Senate failed to confirm her now that we have the votes.”

If that’s the case, the challenge now is getting floor time for a vote — actually, at least two votes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would need to schedule a procedural vote and allow time for debate before a confirmation vote could be held. Schumer’s office has not responded to questions about whether he plans to do that.

The Senate is scheduled to adjourn on Dec. 20, with a new Senate sworn in early next year.

What’s next for the Labor Department

Of greater concern to Su at the moment is what comes next for the Labor Department. A federal rule aimed at protecting workers from excessive heat remains open for public comment. Su doubts the rule will be finished under the next administration.

“It’s unconscionable. Workers are dying in construction, in farm work, also in indoor jobs because it’s too hot,” she says. “Totally preventable.”

Su says she has exchanged messages with Trump’s nominee to succeed her at the Labor Department, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a congresswoman from Oregon who lost her reelection bid last month.

Although much has been made of Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the PRO Act, a bill aimed at making it easier for workers to unionize, it’s unclear where she stands on many other policies prioritized by the Biden administration, including expanding overtime protections to millions more workers and limiting who can be classified as an independent contractor.

If confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer will be serving a president who has been hostile toward unions and who campaigned on a promise of cutting regulations — even as he gained the support of large swaths of working-class voters and union members with promises of prosperity.

Su is also keeping those people in mind.

“Our hope is that for the things that we were able to get done, that they’re able to last so that working people feel the benefits. And for the things we weren’t able to get done, that the [Trump] administration does build on that foundation,” she says.

“We’re going to see how much the stated commitment to workers is really true.”

Congressional leaders have released the text of a stop-gap spending bill to fund the federal government through March 14.

The current funding measure runs out at the end of the day on Friday, giving lawmakers very little time to pass the measure. The new deadline gives President-elect Donald Trump a short time to establish and approve new funding priorities after he takes office in January.

It is unclear when either chamber will vote on the measure but leaders expect the funding will be approved.

The spending stop-gap also includes funding for several other priorities that Congress failed to address earlier in the year including:

• Roughly $100 billion in federal aid for natural disasters, including money to help communities damaged by hurricanes Milton and Helene and those recovering from fires in Maui. That figure is roughly in line with the amount requested by the White House.
• Full funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore which collapsed in March.
• Authorization to transfer jurisdiction over RFK Memorial Stadium from federal hands to the District of Columbia; and other provisions.

This is a developing story and will be updated.