Becker’s Washington Weekly: Week of September 28

Senate’s Last Week

The Senate is back in Washington for its final session week before November’s midterm elections. The House of Representatives is out and is not scheduled to return until November 9th.

The Senate is expected to take a final vote on the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan bill to overhaul name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules nationwide. The Senate may also consider the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would shield consumers from data center-driven utility cost hikes. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 417-3 earlier this month.

Senators will convene committee hearings this week, including the following:

• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census will examine rogue AI and securing the United States against AI agents
• The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will hold an oversight hearing to examine the United States Patent and Trademark Office
• The Senate Armed Forces Subcommittee on Strategic Forces will discuss updates to the Golden Dome