Senators on both sides of the aisle are pushing back after Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., poured cold water on hopes a House-passed bill that would require social media app TikTok to divest from China would ever reach the Senate floor.
“I’m not surprised at all. This is exactly what I predicted would happen,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters. He was reacting to recent comments from Cantwell, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
After the House bill passed with an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives last month, it was referred to the Commerce Committee in the Senate rather than being expedited in the same fashion. This puts the measure under Cantwell’s purview as chairwoman, and she is charged with scheduling markups and potential hearings.
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Bipartisan senators, including Josh Hawley, top, and Mark Warner, bottom, pushed back on claims regarding the House-passed TikTok bill espoused by Sen. Maria Cantwell, center. (Getty Images)
The Washington Democrat had already signaled what some feared would be a long process, indicating her interest in holding several public hearings regarding the TikTok bill. However, she reportedly shared new detailed criticisms of the bill with reporters Monday, suggesting it would not hold up to judicial scrutiny.
Cantwell claimed the measure “could be better,” Punchbowl News reported. “You also can’t, as a Congress, just decide one day, ‘Ah!’ And pass a law. Well, you can, I just don’t know if it’ll hold up in court.
“Let’s get something that can be upheld.”
She notably has her own proposal regarding TikTok, called the GUARD Act, which she said would allow the executive branch, specifically the Department of Commerce, to regulate apps owned by foreign adversaries, such as TikTok. The measure would not force divestment from China.
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Asked by Fox News Digital if she still planned to hold hearings on the House-passed measure, Cantwell said, “We’re trying to figure out our schedule for that. So, we’ll let you know soon.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, criticized the suggestion, telling Fox News Digital, “It’s the right thing for national security, and looking for excuses is embarrassing.”
The TikTok logo Aug. 22, 2022. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo)
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, further claimed the bill was designed to be taken to court and prompt a quick decision.
“It’s anticipating court action and making sure that it’s done very quickly,” he said.
Citing his conversations with the Department of Justice and the legal advice provided by it, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said the approach “taken in the House bill [is] threading the needle appropriately,” pushing back on Cantwell’s remark.
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“I think it’s clearly constitutional and passes all the tests of legal sufficiency,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “Selling assets is a common remedy that’s used by the Justice Department in antitrust suits and is applied to a variety of other kinds of situations.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., reiterated that he wants to see a vote on “a bill that separates TikTok and the Chinese government connection.”
Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to examine worldwide threats at the Capitol in Washington March 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)
Representatives for Cantwell did not provide comment in response to the criticisms.
Hawley suggested again that lobbying from Big Tech was likely behind stalling on the TikTok measure, telling reporters, “TikTok does not want that bill to move across the Senate floor.
“And, therefore, it’s highly unlikely to move across the Senate floor.”
Several reports last month from Politico revealed that several former Cantwell staffers now lobby lawmakers on behalf of the social media app, which prompted both questions and criticism given her position charting the bill’s trajectory through the Commerce Committee.
TikTok did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee full committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
However, Hawley said he isn’t willing to accept the TikTok bill never reaching the chamber floor for a vote.
He claimed that if the Commerce Committee tries “to bottle it up,” he might seek to bring the TikTok bill to the floor by asking “for unanimous consent to set a vote and have a debate.”
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Asked if he thinks the measure would ever be brought to the floor, Warner told Fox News Digital, “I believe we need to work on something that is a national security threat and has been overwhelmingly supported.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Fetterman expressed optimism, saying he believes a vote on forcing TikTok to divest will eventually happen.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., noted it would be a decision for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the leader of the upper chamber.
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Schumer didn’t answer Fox News Digital when asked if he plans to ever bring the House-passed bill to the floor.
“I can tell you that it’s important that we either have them divest or we’re probably going to have to find a process in which they are eliminated from the platforms,” Rounds said.
