Congressman Jeff Duncan on Facebook
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Yesterday, a bipartisan coalition of the House Energy & Commerce Committee unanimously (50-0) passed HR7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. This bill retaliates against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their use of TikTok to access the personal information of Americans. TikTok execs have told us that the CCP has “supreme access” to data. Bytedance, the owner of TikTok and who is controlled by the CCP, has used the app to spy on American journalists and our military. To protect our national security, HR7521 will ban TikTok unless it is divested from Bytedance. It’s simple, no foreign adversary should control any application for sale in America.
TODAY, the debate continues:
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TikTok is a national security threat. That’s it, that’s the post.
CONGRESS is a national security threat. That's it; that's the post.
Lilly Lou
The left is our biggest threat. Tik tok is free speech.
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Lilly Lou do you support the Chinese Communist Party spying on Americans and our military? I don't! That's why H.R. 7521 requires that Bytedance (beholden to the CCP) divests of TikTok. If they do divest, TikTok remains operational in the US no problem. If they do not divest and choose to stand with the CCP commit espionage through TikTok, then TikTok will be deplatformed. The decision is TikTok's to make.
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My office continues to receive hundreds of calls, including from young children whose moms and dads don't know they are calling their Member of Congress. When my staff asked how they received the information, these TikTok tykes said they received a push notification from TikTok telling them that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok.” After explaining the bill and the national security risk that TikTok poses, we were met - not with an argument - but a realization of the fact that they had just sent their location to the CCP by pressing a button and entering their zip code. America’s children, the future of our society, are being unwittingly spied on and influenced through this app.
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Richard Robertson
And here you are underfunding education in this country
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HR7521 requires TikTok to either divest from its parent company Bytedance—which is beholden to the CCP—and remain in operation in the US, or side with the CCP & face a ban. The decision is TikTok’s to make.
Lisa Patrick Bowes
How is Bytedance “beholden” to the CCP? How will divesture “protect” us? From what? Here’s how to turn tracking off. https://support.tiktok.com/.../location-services-on-tiktok
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HR7521 is a crucial step forward in the fight to end Chinese Communist Party espionage and spying through TikTok.
My colleague, Rep. Michael Cloud, shared a great though on the TikTok debate:
“Tik-tok is a CCP surveillance tool masquerading as a legitimate US business — part of China’s unrestricted warfare against the US”—Rep. Michael Cloud
The bill we voted on today doesn’t “ban” TikTok. It forces the parent company, ByteDance (a Chinese Company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party) to divest (sell) itself of TikTok and would prohibit ownership by any of the four adversarial countries (North Korea, China, Iran and Russia) of these type industries/companies.
It isn’t just about the propaganda pushed out by China—it's also about censorship (what content you don’t ever see).
Nancy Hess Jocoy
Trump likes Russia and North Korea and does not seem to consider the leaders to be adversaries.
More action related to China
Congressman Jeff Duncan on Facebook
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I’m proud to be an original co-sponsor of Rep. Hern and Wilson’s Countering Communist China Act. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is America’s adversary and a violator of human rights. HR7476 restructures trade with China, protects the personal information of Americans, stops the CCP from buying American land, and bolsters American energy, national defense, and our economy. I’m proud to stand with the Republican Study Committee, the conservative conscience of the House, to get tough on China!
Audio here.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/11/trump-targets-facebook-orban-support-nr-vpx.cnn
Stock takes a dip here.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/tech/trump-tiktok-facebook-meta/index.html
U.S. House votes to ban TikTok unless it is sold by China-controlled parent
BY: ASHLEY MURRAY
SC Daily Gazette - MARCH 13, 2024 1:35 PM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that effectively bans TikTok unless the company splits from its Chinese owner ByteDance because of national security concerns.
The 352-65 vote occurred just a week after lawmakers introduced the bipartisan proposal and days after the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously advanced the legislation, an unusual speed for the 118th Congress.
The bill required a two-thirds majority because House leadership placed it on the floor under a fast-track procedure called suspension of the rules.
South Carolina’s delegation split their votes, with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace joining Democrat Jim Clyburn in voting “no.” The state’s five other Republicans voted “yes.”
The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, now heads to the Senate, where concerns over singling out a private company in legislation may slow momentum.
President Joe Biden, whose administration had a hand in crafting the bill, is expected to sign the measure if the upper chamber approves it.
Despite broad support across the aisle, the legislation has been met by fierce opposition from TikTok users — totaling some 170 million in the U.S. — and from a coalition of young House lawmakers.
“Not only am I a ‘no’ on tomorrow’s TikTok ban bill, I’m a ‘Hell no,’” Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida said at a Tuesday press conference, questioning which companies are large enough to acquire TikTok. Frost is the youngest member of Congress at 27.
“Essentially what this bill is doing is setting this whole sale up to fail,” he said.
Users of the wildly popular social media platform flooded lawmakers’ offices with thousands of calls Thursday after the company sent a push notification warning that a ban could be imminent, an argument the company maintains.
Supporters from both parties refute that claim.
“The legislation before the Congress does not ban TikTok. It is designed to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns related to the Chinese Communist Party’s engagement with a frequently used social media platform,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday.
“If enacted, the bill would require divestiture by ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to an American company,” he continued.
Divestiture deadline set
The bill gives TikTok 180 days to splinter from ByteDance and will make it unlawful for any American app store or web hosting company to distribute or maintain platforms controlled by designated U.S. adversaries.
The social media platform, 100% owned by ByteDance, has long been in the crosshairs of federal and state lawmakers, whom intelligence officials have warned of the possibility of China’s government accessing Americans’ data via the app.
Lawmakers passed legislation in December 2022 banning the app from most federal employee devices. The Montana Legislature banned the app last year, but the law remains tied up in court.
Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok unless it broke from ByteDance. This week Trump reversed his position on the platform, telling CNBC that “without TikTok you’re going to make Facebook bigger.”
Some Republican lawmakers have fallen in line with Trump’s argument, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who said on the floor Wednesday before the vote she worries that Congress could open a “Pandora’s box” and target other platforms like X.
Greene said her “free speech” was “restored” when Elon Musk purchased Twitter and reinstated her account.
“This is really about controlling Americans’ data,” said Greene on the floor before the vote.
The bill’s original sponsor, Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said from the floor that he wanted to clear up “misconceptions” of the bill ahead of the vote.
“It does not apply to American companies,” the chair of the House Select Committee on China said and later posted on X from his office’s account.
“It only applies to companies subject to the control of foreign adversaries defined by Congress. It says nothing about election interference and cannot be turned against any American social media platform. It does not impact websites in general. The only impacted sites are those associated with foreign adversary apps, such as TikTok.com.”
Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.
AND, Senator Scott still fighting against sanctuary cities:
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in championing two bills to stop sanctuary cities and keep American communities safe from the failed policies of progressive politicians who have allowed violent criminal illegal immigrants to continue committing crimes. The introduction of the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act and the Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act follows the brutal murder of Laken Riley while she was running on the UGA campus by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant who had been arrested twice before but released before a detainer could be issued.
President Biden has implemented a policy of mass releasing illegal immigrants at our southern border, leading to over 10 million illegal immigrants entering the United States during his Administration. In addition, there have been over 1.85 million illegal immigrant “gotaways” during the past three fiscal years who crossed into the U.S. without being apprehended.
“President Biden’s open border policies, combined with Democrat-run sanctuary cities, are putting Americans’ lives at risk,” said Senator Scott. “For too long, we’ve watched these cities provide a safe harbor for illegal immigrants who go on to commit violent crimes. These bills take long-needed steps to empower law enforcement and hold both the people who commit these crimes, as well as the officials who enable them, accountable.”
“For too long, we have watched local jurisdictions in North Carolina and across the country ignore the lawful notification and detainer requests made by ICE agents and instead release dangerous criminals back into their communities and put innocent lives at risk,” said Senator Tillis. “It is clear President Biden and liberal politicians want to prioritize reckless sanctuary policies over public safety. It is time for Congress to step in and put an end to this madness by holding sanctuary cities accountable and empowering ICE to gain custody of criminal illegal immigrants so they can’t cause more harm and violence.”
Both pieces of legislation are co-sponsored by Senators Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.). Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) are also co-sponsors of the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act.
BACKGROUND
The Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act fights sanctuary city policies and provides justice for the victims and their families who are harmed when sanctuary jurisdictions put public safety in danger. Specifically, this legislation establishes a private right of action for any individual, spouse, parent, or child who is a victim of murder, rape, or any felony (as defined by the State) to bring an action against a State or political subdivision of a State if the entity declined to honor a lawful immigration detainer request for an alien by the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, this legislation requires a State or political subdivision of a State to waive immunity as a condition of receiving certain federal grants.
The Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act would clarify DHS detainer authority, clearly establish the authority of states and localities to maintain custody in cases in which a detainer has been issued, and incentivize cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the Department through the reimbursement of certain detention, technology, and litigation-related costs.
These two pieces of legislation address disastrous illegal immigration policies that fueled Laken Riley’s murder and the following incidents:
