Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expressed his support on Monday for a House-passed bill to push the Chinese owners of TikTok to divest or face being banned in the United States, although the path forward is still unclear in the upper chamber.
“This is a matter that deserves Congress’s urgent attention. And I’ll support commonsense bipartisan steps to take one Beijing’s favorite tools of coercion and espionage off the table,” McConnell said, speaking on the Senate floor on Monday evening.
The House voted 352-65 last month to pass the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), would make it unlawful for app stores or web hosting services to provide services to social media applications owned and operated by the Chinese company ByteDance.
If TikTok wants to continue operating within the U.S. after the act’s passage, it would have to separate itself entirely from ByteDance within six months after it’s passage. While TikTok is presenting the legislation as a “complete ban” of the app, the bill’s author and supporters have emphasized that it is not a ban but merely an attempt to separate the app from Chinese influence.
McConnell’s comments come as momentum to pass the House bill appears to have stalled. Senators on both sides of the aisle have signaled they’re conflicted about the legislation amid concerns about constitutional rights to free expression, and backlash from young voters in a critical election year.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not yet committed to holding a vote on the bill but has previously said legislation on TikTok is a priority to get accomplished ahead of the November election.
President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bipartisan deal, even though his presidential campaign is currently active on the platform. Former President Donald Trump expressed opposition to the TikTok measure for supposedly empowering Facebook.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has endorsed the House bill, along with his counterpart, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman.
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McConnell said he believes forcing the divestment of the Chinese-owned company from TikTok would “land squarely within established constitutional precedent.”
“It would begin to turn back the tide of an enormous threat to America’s children and to our nation’s prospects in defining the competition of the 21st century,” McConnell said.
