As expected, H.R. 4624, the “Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act” championed by Dana White and Turki Alalshikh, passed the House Committee on Education and the Workforce this afternoon. The bill passed 30-4, with Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT), Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), and Mark Takano (D-CA) all voting against.
The bill now heads to the House floor, where it must pass with a simple majority. It would then need to pass the Senate with 60 votes before heading to the President’s desk. This figures to take a while, as both bodies are presently in a mad scramble to pass spending bills and stave off another government shutdown by January 30th.
More adjustments can be made on the House floor before passage, which ranking member Bobby Scott (D-VA) recommended.
Even putting aside the anticompetitive nature of this legislation, John S. Nash notes that the increased costs this bill demands could very quickly sink smaller promoters. Quite a lot of work still needs to be done to make this anything but a disaster, so be sure to contact your representatives and speak out against it.
