Boxing Reform Bill Heads to the Senate Floor
Committee Advances Senator Sullivan’s Bycatch Reduction Act, Additional Legislation, and Coast Guard Promotions
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced nine bills and Coast Guard promotions.
The following actions were taken during today’s Executive Session:
Legislation advanced by roll call vote:
S. 4749, JAWBONE Act as amended by the Cruz substitute.
Yeas: Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).
Nays: Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.).
Legislation advanced by voice vote:
S. 3467, Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Reauthorization Act as amended by the Klobuchar substitute, as modified.
S. 3929, Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act as amended by the Sheehy substitute, as modified.
S. 4573, Regional Great Lakes Partnership Act of 2026 as amended by the Peters substitute.
S. 4938, Bycatch Reduction Act as amended by the Sullivan substitute, as modified.
S. 4950, ITS Codification Act as amended by the Duckworth-Blackburn substitute and Cruz 1, as modified.
S. 5188, Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of 2026 as amended by the Cruz-Rosen substitute, Cantwell 2, as modified, Cantwell 3, as modified, Cantwell 4, as modified, and Cantwell 5.
S. 5224, Runway SAFE-T Act as amended by the Moran substitute, as modified.
H.R. 7022, Mystic Alerts Act as amended by the Cruz substitute.
Nominations advanced by voice vote:
Coast Guard Promotions (PN 769-2, PN 1028, PN 1148)
Chairman Cruz’s remarks, as prepared for delivery:
“The bills on this morning’s markup span the committee’s jurisdiction—from fishing to aviation to sports to telecommunications to tech.
“Senator Sullivan’s Bycatch Reduction Act reforms how fisheries manage those excess or accidentally caught fish they do not want and cannot sell. It puts forth a number of fixes, like establishing gear performance standards for mid-water and bottom trawl fishing vessels. I want to commend him for his dogged leadership in working to protect honest fishermen and the environment.
“Senator Peters’ Regional Great Lakes Partnership Act, introduced with Senator Moreno and cosponsored by Senator Duckworth, would make clear that the Great Lakes Commission is an authoritative and important leader in NOAA’s Regional Ocean Partnerships program.
“Turning to aviation, Senator Sheehy’s Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act requires the FAA to acquire and install certified systems for use at certain air traffic control towers. These tools are for towers that lack traditional radar, where controllers often depend on sight. As my aviation staffer put it—and I understand the lingo now—’A-P-R-T is like ADS-B for ATC.’
“Relatedly, Senator Moran’s Runway SAFE-T Act, cosponsored by Senators Hickenlooper, Klobuchar, Wicker, Blunt Rochester, Fischer, and Sheehy, would have the FAA convene an airport driver training task force. The bill responds to recent near misses and runway incidents, including the ground collision at LaGuardia Airport in March 2026, where a landing flight hit an airport fire truck.
“Senator Klobuchar’s Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Reauthorization Act, introduced with Senator Curtis, reauthorizes a Consumer Product Safety Commission program to prevent drowning in pools and spas. Sad to say, drowning remains the leading cause of death among children ages one to four. This bill would dedicate resources to prevent such tragedies.
“The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which I introduced with Senator Rosen, would establish a new option for league-style ‘Unified Boxing Organizations.’ Unlike other major professional sports, boxing has no central authority to govern itself, leading to the decline of the sport. The bill is widely supported by boxing organizations and fighters, including Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali.
“Finally, we have telecommunications bills. The Mystic Alerts Act is a response to disruptions in wireless coverage that occurred amid the severe flooding in central Texas last summer. The floods resulted in the death of at least 135 people, including 25 children and three employees at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp. While multiple alerts were issued in the lead-up to the storm, coverage gaps limited the reach of alerts to those spending the night at Camp Mystic. This bill from Representative August Pfluger would ensure that Wireless Emergency Alerts can be transmitted to mobile devices via satellite, helping to solve that problem.
“Similarly, Senator Duckworth’s ITS Codification Act will help develop emergency communication and tracking technologies to locate individuals trapped in caves and other places where radio communication is limited. The bill codifies ongoing efforts being led by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences within the NTIA and the Communications Technology Laboratory within NIST.
“Finally, a word about the JAWBONE Act, which I have introduced with Senator Wyden.
“The abolitionist Wendell Phillips once said that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ We must be zealous in protecting First Amendment rights—not only when it is convenient, but when it is hard. The JAWBONE Act — named after a type of censorship where the government compels a third party to suppress the speech of another —takes important steps to protect a constitutional right of the citizens that government is supposed to serve.
“The bill protects the First Amendment without fear or favor to different kinds of speech. It doesn’t give the government an excuse to trample your First Amendment right and take down disfavored opinions under the expansive and phony pretense of ‘safety’ or ‘national security.’
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly found that jawboning is prohibited by the First Amendment. In 2024, however, it held in Murthy v. Missouri — a case with which Senator Schmitt is intimately familiar — that censored Americans lacked standing to pursue their claims.
“The Cruz-Wyden bill would provide a private right of action for the coercive governmental threat itself when that threat is made against a broadcaster, social media, or similar kind of tech company. And it would ensure that the public has needed visibility into the instances where the government directs platforms to take specific content actions. As Ranking Member Cantwell has said on this issue, transparency is a ‘good antiseptic.’ I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan proposal.”
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