American politicians raise opposing arguments against the PGA Tour - PIF deal, call it ‘blatant sportswashing’

Over the last few days, the deal between the PGA and PIF has been a hot topic in the sporting world. However, it's not just golfers and fans who are keeping an eye on the recent development. The debate over the PGA-LIV deal has caught the eye of American politicians as well.

California Rep. John Garamendi has brought a bill called the "No Corporate Tax Exemption for Professional Sports Act" to the US Congress. The bill is to curb the loophole that helps the PGA Tour and other sports associations avoid any federal corporate income tax.

Garamendi termed the partnership a 'surprise takeover' of the PGA Tour by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

He was quoted as saying via Yahoo Sports:

"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.

"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."

He added that the merger was against those PGA Tour professionals who turned down a multi-million-dollar deal from a Saudi-backed circuit and chose to stay loyal to the Tour.

Several other leaders also expressed their disappointment over the new deal. Senator Tim Kaine said he was sickened by the announcement because he thought the PGA was taking a stand against human rights violations by the Saudi regime.

Kaine told 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 said he was outraged by the PGA, and he termed the deal 'blatant sportswashing'.

Senator Chris Murphy pointed out PGA officials' hypocrisy on Twitter. He wrote:

"So weird. PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudis' human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport. I guess maybe their concerns weren't really about human rights?"

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"Circumstances do change" - PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan on his change of stance on LIV Golf

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan expressed that he was willing to accept the backlash he was getting following the LIV Golf-PGA Tour deal.

For the uninitiated, Monahan had earlier called out the Saudi-backed tour as a medium for whitewashing the Saudi regime. The Saudi government has been accused of several human rights violations. However, on Tuesday, June 6, PIF and PGA shocked everyone with their merger announcement.

Jay Monahan said that he knew people would call him a hypocrite, but whatever he said in the past was based on the information he had at the time.

He was quoted, as per Golfweek:

"I accept those criticisms. But circumstances do change. I think that in looking at the big picture and looking at it this way, that’s what got us to this point."