US Senator Orrin Hatch has vowed (again) to introduce federal sports betting legislation before his nearly 42-year run in the Senate concludes at the end of the current term.

On Thursday, Hatch (R-UT) gave a speech on the Senate floor in which he decried the state-level sports betting legislative “race to the bottom” that has transpired since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal betting prohibition in May.

Hatch, who was one of the authors of that unconstitutional prohibition, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), said America required “a set of fundamental, federal standards that will protect the integrity of the games, that will protect consumers and the sports wagering market.”

Hatch ruefully noted that sports betting discussion has been “conspicuously absent” from federal dialogue following the Court ruling. The House of Representatives judiciary committee had scheduled a hearing on sports betting but this hearing was postponed for unknown reasons, much to Hatch’s dismay.