TikTok creators gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” pending legislation cracking down on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, on March 12, 2024.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
White House national security adviser John Kirby said Sunday that the Senate should quickly advance a bill that would force Chinese technology company ByteDance to sell TikTok. The bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
“We are pleased that the House has taken up this issue. And we urge the Senate to move quickly on this matter,” Kirby said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We want to see the divestiture of this Chinese company because we are concerned, as every American should be concerned, about data security and what ByteDance and what the Chinese Communist Party might do with the information they may gather from American use of the application.”
The White House’s call to action comes as the Senate slowly moves forward on the bill, which requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company or face a ban in the U.S.
The bill passed Wednesday by a House vote of 352-65. President Joe Biden, currently on TikTok for his reelection campaign, has said he will sign the bill if it passes Congress.
Fueled by the momentum of their chamber’s vote, enthusiastic House members want the bill moved forward more quickly.
“Mike [Gallagher] and I’ve had conversations, very positive ones, with several members of the Senate who are very interested in this bill and who have been very surprised by the size or margin of the overwhelming bipartisan support in the House,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D -Il., who co-chairs the House Special Committee on China Relations with Wisconsin Republican Rep. Gallagher, on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
However, the Senate has a busy week ahead as Capitol Hill races to negotiate a budget resolution for the remaining six appropriations bills that expire Friday, which would trigger a partial government shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has made clear he is in no rush with the TikTok bill. He said he will “review” the text without committing to a voting timetable. Schumer has previously expressed support for selling TikTok to a US company.
Furthermore, some MPs in the Upper House have delayed the bill instead of fully embracing it.
For example, senators such as Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., have offered tentative support for the measure but have been hesitant to commit to a yes vote.
“I certainly agree with that. Let’s see how it goes through the Senate trial. But yes, I think we need to put some guardrails in as far as ownership of TikTok goes,” Cardin said in a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press” of NBC. .”
The TikTok bill has sparked debate even outside Capitol Hill. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has voiced his opposition to a potential TikTok ban, a reversal from his position years ago when he supported the ban when he was president.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook an enemy of the people,” Trump said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated Sunday that Trump’s opposition to the TikTok bill is the main reason he decided not to support his former boss for president in the upcoming election.
“The president’s reversal just last week on TikTok, following an administration in which we have literally changed the national consensus on China, is why, after much reflection, I have just concluded that I cannot support the he agenda that Donald Trump is pushing forward in this national debate,” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”