Sen. Blumenthal Urges Trump to Back BOSS & SWIFT Act Ticket Reforms

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called on President Donald Trump to support legislation aimed at overhauling the ticket sales industry after the president signed an executive order urging for reform in the consumer ticketing world this week.

On Monday, Trump—joined by musician Kid Rock—signed an order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to ensure that those selling tickets comply with Internal Revenue Service rules. The order also calls on the Federal Trade Commission to ensure price transparency for consumers and “take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market.”

READ MORE: Trump Targets Ticketing Industry Enforcement With Executive Order

“Fees for concerts and other events have gotten worse and worse with time,” Trump said, noting a rise in costs beyond the listed price of many tickets.

Blumenthal responded by urging the president to support the BOSS & SWIFT Act, a bill he introduced alongside several other senators in 2023. Named after Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, the legislation would require ticket sellers to disclose the full cost up front—including any service fees, convenience charges, or delivery expenses—and clearly state all refund policies. It would also bar sellers from changing ticket prices during a purchase without informing the buyer, and mandate that primary sellers disclose the total number and cost of tickets available at least seven days before they go on sale.

“President Trump should put his money where his mouth is and support my bill that protects consumers and fixes the ticketing industry,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “My BOSS & SWIFT Act would codify much-needed protections against junk fees, shutouts by scalpers, and other unscrupulous rip-offs into law—putting a stop to commonplace practices that only pad the pockets of greedy corporations and fraudsters.”

The BOSS & SWIFT Act was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation but did not receive a vote during during the 118th congress. It had been introduced to the House earlier that same year by Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and longtime Ticketmaster critic Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) who died in 2024.

While Boss & Swift has not yet been introduced in the new congress, another similar bill – the TICKET Act – has already passed out of committee in the Senate.

Blumenthal, a frequent critic of what he deems “price gouging,” has previously taken jabs at major ticketing companies, including Ticketmaster. In a 2023 hearing over Ticketmaster’s alleged monopoly in the live music industry, he referenced a Taylor Swift lyric, telling the company, “I suggest respectfully that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem. It’s me.’”

During one notable exchange, Sen. Blumenthal clashed with Live Nation executive Joe Berchtold over the true cause of surging ticket prices for live events – which the entertainment giant consistently blames on ticket resale rather than its own market dominance.

“You are the ones ultimately responsible for the astronomically rising prices, the exorbitant hidden fees, the sold out shows, the bots and scalpers,” Sen. Blumenthal told Berchtold at the hearing. “And I think that consumers and artists and venues are all fed up with the system that exists right now.”

“If you are concerned about artists, consumers, venues and about the public interest, you would take action under current law,” he said. “You have the right of action, you have the resources and you have the kinds of legal authority to do it. And so that is why I come back to where I began. Your approach seems to be, “It’s everyone else who’s responsible here and not us.” And I hope that approach will change here in the future.”

The reforms proposed by the BOSS and SWIFT Act (as written in 2023) cover issues that consumers face purchasing and handling tickets in both “primary” and resale scenarios. Among its stipulations are rules that would:

• Require sellers to disclose the total cost of tickets up front, including all service fees, convenience charges, delivery and logistics fees, and other costs levied against consumers;
• Prevent sellers from changing the total cost of a ticket during the purchase process without alerting the buyer;
• Require sellers to clearly disclose their refund policies; and
• Ensure primary sellers are transparent about marketing and distribution by disclosing the total number and cost of tickets that will be offered at least seven days before they go on sale.

Live Nation Entertainment and the “Fix The Tix” coalition of independent venues and other similar operators have both come out against the BOSS and SWIFT reforms in the past, instead pushing legislation that would allow event operators to control all aspects of the ticketing ecosystem, including regulating their own competition in resale spaces by allowing them to declare all but their own systems for ticket access illegal.

Live Nation came out in immediate support of President Trump’s executive order, hoping to push the administration towards its preferred set of “reforms” and away from a comprehensive BOSS and SWIFT Act-type move.