News of the PGA Tour merging with its Saudi Arabian-backed rival, LIV Golf, rocked the sports world earlier this week.
But certain members of Congress have their eyes set on the merger.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-California), has introduced the “No Corporate Tax Exemption for Professional Sports Act,” which takes aim at the new league and other sports organizations.
“Saudi Arabia cannot be allowed to ‘sportswash’ its government’s horrific human rights abuses and the 2018 murder of American-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi by taking over the PGA [Tour],” Garamendi said in a statement, according to Yahoo!
“PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan should be ashamed of the blatant hypocrisy and about-face he and the rest of PGA’s leadership demonstrated by allowing the sovereign wealth fund of a foreign government with an unconscionable human rights record to take over an iconic American sports league and avoid paying a penny in federal corporate income tax. This merger flies in the face of the PGA players who turned down hundred-million-dollar paydays from the Saudi-backed LIV to align themselves with the right side of history and human decency.”
Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) was “sickened” by the news.
“I was really sickened by it. I thought the PGA was taking a principled stand,” Kaine said to Fox News. “When I saw the news yesterday, I was really disappointed because it seems they set aside all the human rights objections that they had and just decided ‘okay, well, we can make more money if we go a different direction.'”
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) called the merger “blatant sportswashing.”
Not everyone hates the merger, however. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that he didn’t think any government action was needed to prevent the merger.
[Yahoo!]
