While House Republican leaders forge ahead with a vote Wednesday on a bill to push the Chinese owners of TikTok to divest or face being banned in the United States, the legislation is far from certain in the Senate.
Senators on both sides of the aisle are signaling they’re conflicted about the legislation amid concerns about constitutional rights to free expression, backlash from young voters in a critical election year, and now new opposition to the proposal from former President Donald Trump.
The bill would force TikTok’s owner, the Beijing-based ByteDance, to sell the app to a domestic buyer to operate in the U.S. The app’s ties to the Chinese government continue to raise concerns from U.S. government officials who say TikTok could weaponize its collection of user data; however, senators are still unsure whether this legislation is the best way to combat national security concerns.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would not commit to holding a vote on the bill if it passes in the House on Wednesday.
“Well let’s see what the House does. I’ll have to consult and intend to consult with my relevant committee chairman to see what their views will be,” Schumer said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
The vote in the House comes as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is meeting with senators on Capitol Hill this week, as TikTok is using every tool available to try to lobby Congress not to pass the measure.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, downplayed the effectiveness of passing the legislation in an effort to combat national security threats from China.
“There was a lot of talk in the House about the urgency of passing a TikTok ban in order to secure the United States from the CCP,” Coons said.
“I think the most pressing challenge we face in terms of the world viewing the United States as a reliable security partner is whether or not we keep our commitment to Ukraine. Whether or not we keep our commitment to Israel, whether or not we keep our commitment to Taiwan,” he added.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) indicated he has concerns about the bill but wouldn’t say where he stands if the bill came to a vote in the Senate.
“The Chinese Communist Party is very accomplished at playing Whac-a-Mole. For example, you can eliminate TikTok, but they can open it up tomorrow — tock-tick, whatever they want to call it — and do the same thing,” Cornyn said, speaking to reporters on Monday.
“What’s the concern of course is there’s a lot of kids and a lot of adults who are providing a lot of their personal identifiable information, everything on their phone to the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, acknowledged both constitutional questions and concerns about backlash from young voters if the popular social media application was banned by lawmakers.
“I think that’s the bottom line here, making sure that freedom of speech and press and such is recognized and respected. That’s the element many of us are trying to balance against the worry that’s the Chinese infiltration of this company,” Durbin said, speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
When asked about the implications of banning the application during an election year, Durbin said, “Successful politics is addition and multiplication.”
“Cutting out a large group of young voters is not the best-known strategy for reelection,” he added.
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When Trump was in the White House, he issued executive orders to try to force ByteDance’s hand to sell TikTok, but ultimately, those orders were blocked by legal challenges. However, Trump reversed course this week and came out against banning the app, much to the disappointment of some members of his own party.
“I agree with him the first time on it, the first time around on this when he as president tried to ban it,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday. “I think it ought to be banned or you can force a sale. I mean, if you could force an actual sale, that’d be fine, but there doesn’t appear to be any prospect of that.”