Liberal Forum

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee forced through a bill that could effectively ban TikTok from all mobile devices in the U.S. despite united opposition from Democrats — a rare breakdown of congressional bipartisanship on the alleged threat posed by Chinese tech.

“Everybody knows what TikTok is,” committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on Tuesday as the panel debated the fate of the popular Chinese-owned video app. “It’s too dangerous to be on our phones as members of Congress. In my judgment, it’s too dangerous to be on our children’s phones. That’s the whole point of this bill.”

The committee ultimately advanced McCaul’s DATA Act, H.R. 1153, on Wednesday morning by a vote of 24 to 16, with all Democrats voting no. The legislation would grant the president new authorities to ban foreign-owned applications, and would require the imposition of sanctions on companies with ties to TikTok or other Chinese-owned apps.
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Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the committee’s ranking member, disputed the notion that Democrats would oppose any bill that targets TikTok.

In a brief conversation with reporters on Tuesday, he said Democrats are open to “more conversation and dialogue” on a TikTok ban — but, he added, “we have to have all of the facts.”
 
“I don’t want to supersede CFIUS,” Meeks said. “In the meanwhile, we can be having hearings and conversations, bringing in witnesses and experts on sanctions.”Meeks said the DATA Act was “unvetted” and had been thrust on his staff with little warning. “We could have held hearings before the markup and carefully crafted bipartisan legislation together,” Meeks said Tuesday. “Instead, my staff and I received the text of this legislation a little over a week ago, and have only had several days to review a bill that would dramatically rewrite the rules-based international economic order.”

Aside from that debate on process, Tuesday’s markup discussion revealed a widening gap in how Republicans and Democrats perceive the threat they say TikTok poses. The GOP increasingly frames the company as a willing participant in Beijing’s espionage activities — McCaul called it a “spy balloon in your phone.” But Democrats appear hesitant to ban an app that roughly 100 million Americans use each month.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/0 ... n-00084951