Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. 20240704

Violation of free speech rights for millions of americans. I rise today in support of the protecting americans from foreign adversary controlled applications back, foreign adversaries like the chinese, his party pose the greatest threat of our time, 177 main american unda tool for the c. C. P. To exploit. Over the past week, we saw in realtime how the c. C. P. Controlled tiktok, used its influence and power to forc■ users to contact their representatives if they even wanted to continue using the app. Rom targeting, surveillinheeting, American People. We have given tiktok a clear choice. Separate from your Parent Company, wch is beholden to the c. C. P. , and remain operational in the United States, or side with the c. C. P. And face the consequences. The choice is tiktok agencies. Companies control conscious tiktoks is tiktoks. Companies controlled by a foreign adversary like the c. C. P. Wiler embrace american also have like freedom of speech, human right, the rule of law and a free press. If give the choice, they will veillance and the path for more more manipulation. And in the case of tiktok, we wouldnt even know it. Today w a clear message that we will not tolerate our adversaries weaponizing our freedoms against us. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from washington reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Speaker, i know the sponsors of this bill are sincere in their concerns and in their effort to protect americans. Mr. Massie theyve described the tiktok application asres se of us who feel that either intentionally or unintentionally this legislation to ban tiktok is actually a trojaf us are cont there are First Amendment implications here. Americans have the right to view information. We dont need to be protected by the government from information. Some of us just dont want the president picking which apps we can put on our phones or which ■ websites we can visit. We dont think thats appropriate. We also think its dangerous to give the president that kind of power, to give him the poweri1go decide what americans can see on their phones and their computers, to give him that sort of discretion we also think is da. Now, people say that dangerous. Now, people say that this tiktok ban will only apply to tiktok or maybe another company that pops up you just like e tiktok but the bill is written so broadly that the president could abuse that discretion and include other companies that arent just social medd that ars some people would believe, controlled by foreign adversaries. Again, were giving the president that discretion tby a. There were some people who were legitimately concerned that this was an overly broad bill and they got an exclusion written into the bill that i want to read. It says, the term covered company does not include at opee or application, whose primary purpose is to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews or travel information and reviews. Why is this exception in the bill . Why did somebody feel like they needed this exception if the bill itself only covers social media applications that foreign adversaries are running . These and other questions we hope to answer in the course of this debate and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from washington is recognized. Mrs. Rodgers mr. Speaker, i yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Ploan, and ask unanimous mr. Pallone, and ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Pallone thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield myself three minutes. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support 21, the protecting americans from foreign adversary controlled applications act. Big tech has transformed social media platforms into modern day Media Companies and unfortunately these networks engage in invasive surveillance practices by collecting americans most sensitive personal data. Foreign adversaries also see access to americans data, communication networks, devices and applications as the entry points to disrupt our daily lives and conduct espionage activities. And all of this endangers our National Security interests. We have a long history■zv and ro airwaves from ownership by foreign governments and individuals due to the National Security concerns that these arrangements pose. Social Media Companies should also face similar scrutiny. After all, while technology has evolved, the threats are very much the same. And i also take the concerns ised by the Intelligence Community very seriously. They have asked congress to give them more authority to act and narrowly in narrowly defined situations. I believe this bill4o will do jt that by addressing the National Security risks posed by applications operated by companies controlled by foreign adversaries. While this bill establishes a National Security framework that could apply to other applications, much of the public attention is focused on tiktok. The combination os beijing communistbased ownership and the fact that more than 170 million americans use it exacerbates its dangegers tod our privacy. Laws in china allow the Chinese Communist party like tiktok to share data with them, whether the companiesthe c. C. P. Has the ability with tiktok to compromise device security, maliciously access americans data, promo■÷te procommunist propaganda and undermine our nations interests. This is extremely troubling. Beijing, china, should not have the control overme it is my hope that if enacted, this legislation will force divestment of tiktok so that americans will be able to continue using this platform without the risk that its being operated and controlled by beijing, china. However, even if tiktok is divested, china and other foreign be able to acquire vast amounts of americans data, thats because we place no restrictions on data brokers who sell data to them and thal. I look forward to the house considering next week legislation that i introduced with chair rogers that would chair rodgers thatould stop this from happening. We need to hold big tech accountable for transforming the information superhighway into a superspreader of har harmful content, addictive and damaging design features, all with the goal of collecting more data. We must enact a comprehensive data finally give americans control over how their data is used and collected. So i want to thank representative krishnamoorthi. And i urge my colleagues to support h. R. 7521 and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentlewoman from washington is recognized. , mr. Speaker. I yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Gallagher. Mr. Gallagher thank you. Tiktok is a threat to our National Security bause it is owned by a company which does the bidding of the chinese communityist party. We know this because their leadership says so and because chinese law require it. This bill therefore forces tiktok to break up with the Chinese Communist party. It does not apply to American Companies. It only applies to companies subject to the control of foreign adversaries defined by congress. It saysrference and cannot be turned against any American Social media platform. It does not impact websites in general. The those associated with foreign adversary apps such as tiktok. Com. It can never be used to penalize individuals. The text explicitly prohibits that. And it cannot, cannot be used to sensor speech, it takes no position at all on the content of speech, only foreign adversary control. Foreign adversary control of what is becoming the platform fs under 30. This is a commonsense measure to protect our national urge my cot this critical bipartisan legislation. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. From washington. Recognize il now recognize the gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield three minutes now to the gentleman from illinois, the democratic sponsor of the bill. Mr. Krishnamoorthi than you, chair pallone. Thank you, mike gallagher, my partner on this bill. Thank you to Cathy Mcmorris rodgers. Thank you to all the members of the select this bill is not a bn and its not about tiktok. Its about bite dance. Bite dance of tiktok. They are controlled by the Chinese Communist party. Xu er he has been charged with making he has been chaed with making sure that tiktok and all products ofdance have political direction. This ensures that bytedance divest itself of the vast■jri ir intention is foriktok to continue to operate, but not underhe control of the Chinese Communist party. This isnt without precedent. When the app, grindr, was acquired by a Chinese Company and the unid States Government determined that Sensitive Data of lgbtq members of the military and u. S. Government officials got into the hands of the Chinese Communist party, they required dwieftment divestment. This happened quickly. Why . Because it was a very valuable social media company. The same is true with regard to tiktok and there will be no disruption to users, just as there grindr. Third point. Unfortunately when tiktok has appeared before congress, whether its bmp the before the house energy and Commerce Committee or otherwise, it has not been candid, my friends. It has not been candid. First, tiktok said its data is notcc chinabased bytedance employees. False. Chinabased employees routinely access this data, even■÷ unbeknownst to employees of tiktok u. S. A. In addition, tiktok said its data will not be weaponized and has not been again, false. Published reports have shown that tiktok data, geolocation data has been used to surveil american journalists who reported on problems with chinesebase employees having access to american user data. Finally, last week under the leadership of the chairman, chairwoman and the ranking member, they brought up for consideration our bill before the house energy and Commerce Committee. On the morning of that vote, tiktok delivered a push thousands of users across the country. They used geolocation data targeting minor children to then force call congressional offices in order to continue using the app. And in doing these children called and they asked the question, what is congress and what is a congressman . This influence campaign illustrates the need for this bill. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. Now ill recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie i recognize data privacy champion, mr. Warren davidson from ohio, for three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Davids i thank mr. Davidson i thank the gentleman for yielding time. The gentleman from new jersey who isnt actually opposed to the bill seems to have identified the real issue which is data privacy. I think its important that we solve the correct problem. Our problem is allbk t social m, otherwise media, otherwise, your car, your phone, you name it, its surveillance. The spying that goes on with american citizens does need to be addressed and it should be addressed by the energy and Commerce Committee. Ive long pleaded with members of both sides of the aisle to pass h. R. 4, to reclaim the privacy rights that are so deeply infringed inur country. And by avoiding that problem, we take away the energy and momentum to address the root issue. Frankly, the people sponsoring this bill today claim that the real issue is ownership. But who owns this company . Its not owned by bytedance. 60 of it is owned by investors, including american investors. 20 are owned by the 20 are ow, over 7,000 employees. The companys headquarters is not in china, its in singapore, and the american its housed in texas. Controlled by a database owned by oracle. The administration see to believe they can ban the export of americans Sensitive Data, not just on tiktok, but on all platforms, because they just issued an executive ordernow, il that ms. Jayapal and i have sponsored that we were moving, the Fourth Amendments not for sale, past judiciary, but stopping foreigners from buying it would also address the privacy concerns. If we think we can address the privacy concerns, whats left to address . Remember before elon musk bought the crime scene at twitter. It was a conspiracy theory. ■2 these algorithms were silencing and canceling people. You guys are crazy. When musk bought twitter, he kept it fewer employees, but we found a lot of the employees were trying to shape content information. Which algorithms were used how it promotes certain people and filters others. What youre saying here is if youre not fully engaged with americas threeleer agencies in content moderation we plan to tiktok you. This bill isnt limited to tiktok. Its a coercive power that applied to others. Like telegram, tour, things that provide privacy would be rg this bill. Perhaps tether, one of the things they cant control as a monetary system. When you look at it enables one user to see content that isnt approved, its subject it a■ 500 fine pr user. 500 million. 30 seconds . This is meant to be able to take out anything, including ewhere its one user see it is. It could target an infinite number of companies but not places. So for that i do applaud the work that was done to back off from the dystopian restrict act, but this is essentially a down payment on the restrict act. The restrict act, i encourage everyone to look it up. This is what the administration really wanted to do. What members of congress, both sides of the aisle, wanted to do is to create a bigger surveillance state. Wants topore thentel committee gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Davidson we have to shrink it and protect Fourth Amendment right to privacy. I yield. Mr. Massie reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. Now recognize the gentlewoman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers thank you, mr. Speaker. It is not true that this a down payment on a restrict act. Not interested in the restrict act. With that i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from ohio, mr. Latta. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Latta i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. The c. E. O. Of tiktok appeared before the energy and commerce committeo me during questioning that byte dance has access to u. S. Data. This should be an alarm to every tiktok user. No reason why the Chinese Communist party should be in control of an app that can access information on a users phone. Because companies are owned or linked to the communist party are forced to comply with their laws beetdance and the employ the communist regime. If bytedance is the ownership of tiktok, tiktok will be available to its u. S. Users. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. Mrs. Rodge reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. I recognize the gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone i yield two minutes to the speaker emeritus, ms. Pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Pelosi thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this very important issue. I thank the distinguished chairwoman of the energy and Commerce Committee, associate myself with her remarks as well as with i thank mr. Krishnamoorthi and mr. Gallagher, chairman gallagher of the select committee on china for their great. Bringing this legislation forward to the committee of jurisdiction. Legislative jurisdiction. I have a few points to make. ■ its interesting to hear this respectful debate. First of all, this is not a ban on tiktok. Im teenagers, i understand the entertainment val you a, educational val a. Communication value, the Business Value for some attempt to ban tiktok. Its an attempt to make tiktok better. Tictactoe, a winner. The people of china have come forth. The tibetans have come forth and said on tiktokressed. They cannot put their message out. Not only that, the Chinese Government misrepresents the situation in tibet. In hong kong, let me tell you about hong kong. During the taiwan election, tiktok, tiktoked into taiwan that the uyghurs, on whom there is a genocide exercised by the Chinese Government, they have told the people in taiwan that the uyghurs like that genocide. They told them that the people of hong kong like the destruction of their democracy. They dont frame it that way, but thats their message. And again, suppressing the communication from tibet. Then just yesterday on the■n n taiwanwe heard from the tibetans, we heard from the hong kong, and we heard from a whose husband was arrested because of his communication with somebody with shared view. This is controlled by the Chinese Communist government. But forgetting that, if you can, i cant, think of this. The speaker pro tempore the ms. Pelosi the chinesexpired government can control the a atgore rhythm. A yes vote, thank you. The speaker pr tempore the gentleman from new jersey reserves. Ill recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie i recognize my friend on judiciary committee, mr. Bishop from North Carolina, for four minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Bishop mr. Speaker, this is not the first time that res restricting speech has been pursued in the interest of National Security. In fact, in five days time next monday ill go to the Supreme Court for the first time i have attended an oral argument in the case of murthy v. Missouri. The se where agents from the white house and the department of justice and other federal agencies embedded themselves on American Social Media Companies to manipulate what could appear on social media. Express by the American People. Described by the lower court as most massive attack on free speech in u. S. History. And even as that pins for decision by the Supreme Court, congress would in this legislation would say, in effect, hold my beer. I dont use tiktok. I think its illadvised to do so. Members of this body are famous on tiktok. And i think thats unwise. But i respect the choices of thd states. The Trump Administration attempted to ban tiktok in 2020. And it was held that it couldn■ do so in two Court Decisions because, under the International Emergency economic powers act are subject to the berman amendment. Passed in 1988 by this body, to provide that in the interest of dealing with hostile foreign powers, the president can do all sorts of things with respect to commerce, but cannot ban the free flow of information across international boundaries. I hrd in the law. But its a feature, sir. Its not a bug. Be this legislation cannot be described as other than receiving from the berman amendment and that principle in american law. Which does not, by the way, did not emerge from the brow ofenta8 but predicated on a much earlier principle of First Amendment law established in 1965 by the in the case postmaster lamont vs. Postmaster general. Which said, the American People have a right o■f First Amendment right of access to foreign propaganda. At first it may be remarkable or strike one its odd to hear that, thats because the proper relationship between government and citizen in the United States is that the citizen decides what to be exposed to and what ideologies to embrace and consider. And is always free to engagen expression, including across international boundaries. That remains the prevailing constitutional law today. And it begs this question, how could it be that congress should be working hard to devise a circumvent that principle, that prevailing principle of the First Amendment. Against the use of a particur o0 million americans. And isnt it ironic that the technical advisors in the construct of this legislation to design it so it can get around legislation challenges, including isolating litigation challenges to 180 days, and only in the court of appeals of the district ofje columbia. Those technical advisors are the same folks at the department of justice who devised that plan to embed agents of the department of justice and other federal agencies with social media platforms in the United States to restrict what americans could say online. Mr. Speaker, america confronts a grave challenge in china. And it will becoming more like it. I yield. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. I now recognize the gentlewoman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers mr. Speaker, i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Guthrie. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Guthrie i want to emphasize this bill does not ban tiktok. It simply would require the Chinese Communist Party Affiliated bytedance to sell tiktok and die vest their interest. I was asked does this just affect tiktok . No. Its any foreign adversar app, owned, controlled, or unduly influenced by a foreign adversary. We must keep americas private data out of the hands of our foreign adversaries. I urge support, and yield back. Mrs. Rodgers i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. I new jersey. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california, ms. Eshoo, member of the committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for eg member of the energy and Commerce Committee. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of h. R. 7521, the protecting americans from foreign adverrycontrolled a. M. Applications act. This bill will ensure the divestiture of tiktok from its peoples republic of china controlled Parent Company, bytedance. Why is it essential for congress to do this . Because the p. Controls bytedance, and this presents a serious National Security threat to our country. Tiktok has users. And it collects tremendous amounts of Sensitive Data. They■fial Background Data that may be proprietary, which may only be available to tiktok. The National Security law of the p. R. C. Requires all chinese organizations to, quote, sup support, assets, assist, and cooperate with National Intelligence efforts. Under this law bytedance could be compelled by the Chinese Government to pden every american tiktok user. They can weaponize this data to exploit and manipulate americans through surveillance and disinformation. This legislation separates tiktoks data, and source code from bytedance. Importantly, this bill does not ban tiktok, something i do not support. I support divestiture because our first and most important responsibility as members of the congress is to defend our constitution and defend the United States of america. The bill would also give americans secure ownership of eir data, including posts, photos, and videos, and give this administration and future administration to respond to future National Security threats. For all these reasons i urge all colleagues to vote for this legislation. In the name of our National Security. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jerseys time has expired. I now recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie i yield four minutes to my good friend from georgia, miss Marjorie Taylor ne. The speaker pro tempore the representative is recognized for four minutes. Ms. Greene thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today as the only member of congress thaen ot has been banned by social media. On january 2 of 2022, twitter banned me. Banned my personal account. On which i was campaigning for congress, raising money, and my free speech to inform the voters in my district they can vote for me. This was not by a compawn was by americanowned twitter. This came on the heels of our own united States Government rking with big tech and working with social Media Companies to censor and ban Americans Free speech. I believe this bill is opening pandoras box and im opposed to this bill. The united States Government because of our experience dealing with it. Never forget that the united States Government also was the one that provided the russia hoax to americans. It also worked to ban americans it also has worked in so many ways to illegally warrantlessly spy on americans through those if favor will vote ayes. If we wanted to be serious about stopping a foreign adversary, if we wanted to be serious about stopping china, we would stop china fromuy our u. S. Farmland. We would raise up our American Energy independence, we would also stop the■ green new not rely on china who owns and operates 85 of the Battery Market worldwide. There are dge this. This is really about controlling americans data. And if we cared about americanse sale of americans data universally. Not just with china. Theres some further issues. This is a pandoras box. Whereas to stop congress or the United States whats to stop congress o the united States Government in the future for forcing the sale of another social media company, claiming that its protecting americans data from i think we can see in the future another russia, russia, russia and possibly force the sale ofay claim that elon musk is altering the algorithms of x. By the w, lon musks purchase of x that restored my social media account on twitter and allowed me to have my f twi. Theres also members of this body, the democrats are claiming that election meddling can happen on social media. Well, we can never forget Mark Zuckerberg and facebook, we can never forget the election meddling that happened there. Americanowned facebook and instagram is where most of the garbage like the gender lies and the woke lies■z exist. Many americans and many teenagers believe awful things and they dont just see them on tiktok, they see them onfaceboo. I dont think this will accomplish what the goal is to accomplish. So theres otheroncerns, i think, here. When the government moves into forcing the sale of tiktok, who is going to buy that we should be asking. Who is going to buy it . Who will be the next to control the data of over 170 million are we going to trust Mark Zuckerberg to control their data . I certainly dont. By the way, most ofy posts on facebook are shadow banned. And i certainly dont have the reach on that social media account. I think protect data and i think this body is capable of it, if we choose to be. The speaker pro tempore the gentla expired. Ms. Greene i oppose the bill. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. I recognize the gentleman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers i y 1 1 2 minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Roy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for a minute and a speaker. We are in a cold war with china. And some of my colleagues want to ignore this fact. We have legislation before us that is 12 pagesjb long. The bill is not a ban, it forces foreign adversaries, including Chinese Communists, to divest. The bill is not a bill of attainer, its not retrospective it. Does the not violate the First Amendment. It focuses on conduct, not content. It requires both being controlled by a foreign adversary and conduct that itself is espionage. If you just have one alone, it might be debatable, as the gentleman from North Carolina or senator paul notes in that it might protect americans rights to seek out and obtain foreign propaganda. But again, that is not this case, because we have and have as a trigger in this bill demonstrates National Security conduct h clear, weve properly taken action at the device layer by banning huawei and z. X. E. Spy gear. Weve taken actn carrier level, prohibiting china telecomfrom connecting to telecom from connecting to our networks. We now need to take action at the application level, when malign c. C. P. Control has been demonstrated, lest we render meaningless our past actions to protect the United States of america. We should ban china ownership ft them here and stop apologizing for the Chinese Communists. I yieldlt back. Mrs. Rodgers morse i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from washington reserves. And ill recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie i yield one minute to my friend on the other side of the■ aisle,■a mr. Garcia frm california. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Garcia thank you, mr. Speaker. I have enormous respect foresters of my colleagues to■ foe does respect for my colleagues. But i disagree with this approach and bill that could impact 170 million americans who use tiktok. 1 3 of all u. S. Adults use the app and millions of entrepreneurs and Small Business owners use t■ platform to support their family. And yes, just like every other social media platform, there is misinformation and privacy concerns on tiktok and i share those. However, its important that we dont treat tiktok differently than other platforms. If were going to address this issue, weve got to take the same approach to also media platforms, we cant just single out one. I join many of my colleagues and the aclu in voicing concern over the freedom of expression. Now, im a strong supporter of ensuring that tiktok remains an open marketplace and theres no guarantee in this bill that there wont be an interruption of service that could lead to an end of this app. I dont think we fully appreciate the impact that is going to have and for that im a strong no. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky. I recognize the gentlewoman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from indiana, mr. Bucshon. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Bucshon one of the mot important duties of the constitution is to protect the American People and safeguard our National Security. After hearing from National Securityxperts last week, it is clear the prolific use of media platforms controlled by the Chinese Communist party and other foreign adversaries poses a danger to our country. I am grateful to my bipartisan colleagues for moving this legislation, showing we will take action to protect the American People, their personal data and security manipulation. We took an oath to do so. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentledy now recognize the gentn from kentucky. Mr. Massie i now yield one minute to my friend on the other side of the aisle from calirnia, ms. Kamlagerdove. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Kamlagerdove thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to oppose h. R. 7521. Banning tiktok is an insufficient bandaid solution to the genuine National Security concerns the app raises and exposes. The billvil liberties by essenty banning a platform that 150 million americans use to engage in free speech and tiktok ban hs already been paused by a federal judge on First Amendment grounds. Even without p. R. C. Could still be able to conduct influence operations on other social media platforms and obtain sensitive u. S. User data through hacking or data brokers. Finally, this bill would greatly expand the Executives Authority to ban Tech Companies with zero congressional sign a blank checo some future president who would easily endanger and dangerously weaponize this legislation to profit and silence in silence. Creatives, artist, content creators and businesses in my district will get caught in the crossfire of this bill and deserve better than overreach as a substitute for a thoughtful solution to a complicated National Security challenge. Thank you, i yield back. Mr. Massie reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. I recognize the gentlewoman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers mr. Speaker, i yield 40 seconds to the gentlewoman from iowa, mrs. Hinson. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for 40 seconds. Hinson thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill. The day after we introduced our bill, tiktok went into panic mode. They lied to their users, saying congress was going to ban tiktok, using young kids as political pawns. If on election day tiktokd o■8r sent out an alert saying our elections were canceled, we must act now. Today were sending a message to the c. C. P. That we are going to deflate the 140 million spy balloons that they have installed on american phones. We must act and pass this bill today. Thank you. I yieldo reserves. I now recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. I now recognize the gentlelady from washington. Mrs. Rodgers mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from,e florida, mrs. Cammack. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from florida is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Cammack thank you, mr. Speaker. Today we take a stand against the Chinese Communist party and their efforts to turn content creators in america into foot soldiers for the c. C. P. You know, we arent banning company as the high paid lobbyists for bytedance, which is owned by china, would lead to you believe. We arent infringing on constitutionally protected eech or growing the size of government. All were saying is, break up with the Chinese Communist party. As a constitutional conservative, i dont want my government or big tech to have unfettered access to my private data. So why in the hell would we want party to have access to our private data . The c. C. P. Is an adversary of the United States and this gioughtfully and directly addresses the National Security threat and protecting americans data and by extension their First Amendment rights because le second that tiktok is not infringing on our First Amendment rights. I would say that this bill,■i as representative roy from texas said, this bill is about conduct, not content. Conduct, not content. And there isioned on content ins bill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Mrs. Cammack but i will mention the speaker pro tempore does the gentlelady from washington reserve . Mrs. Cammack covered or protece of the the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is no longer recognized. The gentlewoman from washington, you have a minute and 3 4 time left. And i now recognize the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Massie id like to now yield one minute to my good friend from arizona, in schweikert. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Schweikert thank you, mr. Speaker pro temp mr. Speak pro tempore and to my friends, i am about to try to make everyone mad. Yay. I actually believe data is a private property it belongs to you as an american citizen. The problem with our design here, its really well meaning. But it doesnt get at the structural problem. So you have an entity over here, they divest. What makes them not then take the data, sell it to a data broker, and it gets washed and ends up still in the badct you got to understand, theres even an article out this week of even our own threeletter data w from data brokers instead of doing the tracking. We need to think dramatically more globally. Your data is a private property right. That will be the only way we en uptecting ourselves from bad actors and sometimes even our ownselves. With that, i yield back our. Gentleman from kentucky has 3 1 2 minutes available. Ill recognize the gentloman from washington. Mrs. Rodgers mr. Speak yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from michigan, mr. Walberg. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recogzed for 30 seconds. Mr. Walberg mr. Speaker, last march when i asked the americas data being stored in excess by china, tiktok c. E. O. Stated under oath that it was not accsible by the c. Krmpt p. However, this statement c. C. P. However, this statement was a lie as their o internal recording sai everything is seen in china. H. R. 7521 giv and similar acts six months to divest from their Parent Company, bytedance. Its their choice. Tiktok needs to dece whether they value their users or their ties to the Chinese Communist party mor simple as that. Vote for this bill. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields and the gentlelady from washington yields reserves. The gentleman from kentucky will be recognize. Mr. Massie i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. Ill recognize the gentlelady from washington. Mrs. Rodgers i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from washington reserves. Mr. Massie is the gentlelady prepared to mrs. Rodgers im prepared to close. Mr. Massie you have no or speakers . Mrs. Rodgers i have one other speake going to reserve until you are ready to until your time is expired. Well, are you prepared to close . Mr. Massie im prepared to close. Mrs. Rodgers ok. Mr. Massie if the gentleladies into further speakers. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from washington has yes. Id like to close. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Massie thank you, mr. Speaker. I know the other side is i know the other side is sincere. I wont question their sincerity. I think■hey identified at least three problems we have in america. Moral decay of our society. Invasion of americans privacy. Our competitiveness with china. In this case their cure is worse than the diseases. There are ways to get atust havn ourselves to address those root problems with actual legislative solutions. That have been put forth here in congress. For instance, mr. Davidson, the Fourth Amendment is not for sale act. We put a strong stake in the ground to protect americans privacy. Whether its from our own government or some foreign governments. That is the kind of thing we need. We need warrants in the fisa program. I government shouldnt be able to spy on americans without a warran yet they are. Lets bring that to the floor and vote on it. These are the kind of cures we need. Not the bill thats offered here today. The bill tha today, even though i know its offered genuinely, it could also be named, the facebook protection and enhancement act. Because its not the American People who are going to benefit most from this, it will be facebook. Their stock is going to go up if this bill should pass the senate. Could improve this bill . It should at least have a sunset. Thats the only reason we are whether fisa should have warrants in it because it sunsets. What have we observed . Fisas been abused. Person withs tiktok fan. It will be abused. If its just banning tiktok and bytedance and copies of that, wh need to be 13 pages long . I know they say it doesnt ban it, it forces divestiture of the company t sounds like when American Companies try to do business in third world countries and a dictator says you can do business. You have to give me your company. And now you can do business. We wouldnt let another country take over Ford Motor Company for selling ford cars in their country. Yet do here. And again, this is a cure that is worse than theisease. Who is going to be prosecuted by this bill . Is it bytedance or tiktok . Will they be taken to cou the tw do you effect a ban on them . By prosecuting americans. The only way you can ban tiktok and the other companies from being here is to say what this bill says. Which is we will bring civil action, the governmentil civil t against you in you if you so much as host them here. If you have an app store that allows them to be here. Yon american or american company, you will be the target of this bill. Those are the only people who can be pursued under this bill. I know its in order go after tiktok, so they say. I would just close by saying that we are sitting here with phones made in china. Wearing suits made maid in ch china. We drove cars here with chips made in china. And there are foreignry, by golly we are going to do something about it. What are we going to do . We are going to tell americans they cant put a piece of software on their couter. They cant go to certain websites that the president designates. I urge my colleagues to oppose this wellintentioned bl have bd consequences. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Ill recognize the gentlelady from. Mrs. Rodgers i yield such time as remains to the gentleman from texas, mr. Crenshaw. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 1 15. Mr. Crenshaw thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to address all my colleagues who i think are amendment. Confused about the nature of tiktok. And the intentions of the Chinese Communist party. Let me explain■xe. Tiktok is owned by bytedance. Bytedance is in china. And when you are in china, you have to do whatever the Chinese Communist party says you have to do. Thats according to the National Intelligence law passed in 2017. If they want you to spy for them, you will spy for them. Thats how tt works. They have a board member from the Chinese Communist party on bytedance. You wouldnt allow a radioow mif washington, d. C. , and then allow it to just put out chinese propaganda. You thats exactly what tiktok can be used for because millions of americans are addicted to it. They see it and the chinese cane algorithms. The First Amendment does not give the Chinese Communist party the right to american data or the right to manipulate the minds of americans. That would be a really weird interpretation of the First Amendment. Primary counter arguo this bill seem to be as shallow as it does do everything i want and facebook is really mean. I dont want them to make money. That means you owe chinese access to all of our data and manipulate the minds of americans . I dont think s■gjo. This is a very specific bill. Very specifically tailored. It does not harm American Companies or individuals. You know t you got to re [captiol cable satellite corp20] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which sit ncicap. Org] the house passed legislation requiring tiktok to be spun off from its chinaowned Parent Company by dance or face a ban, after congressional lawmakers repeated concerns about the collection of personal data posing a potential National Securityhrt. Democratic represene Jasmine Crockett of texas was the only member to vote present. The bill goes to descendant. Tiktok said it would be a violation of free speech rights for millions of american. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of her annual studentcam documentary year, cspan asked students across the country to look forward while considering the past, highlighting the milestone of the anniversary, each participant was given the option to look 20 years into the future or 20 years into the past. We received inspiring and thoughtprovoking documentaries and response from more than 3002 hundred students across 42 states, conducting rearch and interviews with experts, tackling critical topics such as technology and social media. It has te jobs in nominating entire fields of work. Nature and our environment. It can longer sustain the richness and diversity. Social justice. Race and bias in the american criminal jusce we are excitede top winners of studentcam 2024. Isaac Graham Newton middleion school in mountain view, california for the documentary beyond just say five, ai reshaping americas tomorrow del intelligence. The high school eastern divisions first prizes awarded to Montgomery Blair High School Film the promise of blakely park, the purple line, climate change, and reimagining the future of america suburbs. And Troy Athens High School in troy michigan claimed the first prize in their High School Central division with their production unseen heroes come of the caregivers of america. In the high School Western division, Palo Alto Senior High School in california earned first prize for threads of change, which takes a critical look at the fast fashion industry. Our top award of 5,000 for grand prize goes to Weston High School in weston,on documentary innocence held hostage by navigating past and future conflicts with iran deals with the and features interviews with the former iranian hostage. Instead of saying so youre free to leave, i was blindfolded, handcuffed, thrown into a car and taken to prison. It brings me great joy out 2s competition this year, you guys are the grand prize winner for studentcam 2024. Thank you so much. It is a huge honor. We are so grateful for this. Thank you a lot. We extend our gratitude to educators, parents and participants who supported each of these young film makers on their creative journeys. Congs to all our winners. Dont miss out. The top winning documentaries will be broadcast on cspan starting april 1, plus you can catc each of the 100 50 awardwinning films online anytime at student cam. Org. Join us celebrating pacific lee engage in inspiring young minds as they share their opinions on the issues that are important to them and affect our world. Cspans washington journal live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues and government, politics and Public Policy from washington dc and across the country. Coming up thursday morning, former Trump Commerce of Department Official discusses the National Security concerns posed bthe chinese owned app tiktok and the latest efforts in congress to regulate it. Then data specialist and author can block talks about his new book aboutis hiring by the Trump Campaign to investigate election 202020 voter fraud claims. Cspans washington journal, joinhe eastern thursday morningn cspan, cspan now, or online at cspan. Org. Friday nights, watch cspans 2024 campaign trail, a weekly roundup of cspans Campaign Coverage providing a onestop shop to discuss the candidates and what theyre saying across the country to voters along with firsthand accounts, political reports, poll numbers, fundraising data, and campaign ads. Watch cspans 2020 four campaign trail friday nights at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan. Org, or download the podcast on cspan now, our free mobile app, or where you get your podcasts. Disband your unfiltered view of all the tics. 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