White House national security adviser John Kirby emphasized the urgency for the Senate to swiftly advance a bill compelling Chinese tech giant ByteDance to divest from TikTok, a move endorsed by the House with broad bipartisan support.
“We’re glad the House took it up. And we urge the Senate to move swiftly on this,” Kirby asserted on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We want to see divestiture from this Chinese company because we are concerned, as every American ought to be concerned, about data security and what ByteDance and what the Chinese Communist Party could do with the information that they can glean off of Americans’ use of the application.”
The White House’s appeal coincides with the Senate’s cautious approach to the bill, which mandates ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American entity or face a ban in the U.S.
The House approved the bill in a decisive 352-65 vote on Wednesday. President Joe Biden, who currently utilizes TikTok for his reelection campaign, expressed readiness to sign the bill if it clears Congress.
Encouraged by the resounding bipartisan backing in the House, eager House members are pressing for expedited progress.
“Mike [Gallagher] and I have had conversations, very positive ones, with different members of the Senate, who are very interested in this bill and who were very surprised by the size or the margin of the overwhelming bipartisan support in the House,” stated Rep.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., co-chair of the special House committee on China relations, on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Nonetheless, the Senate confronts a packed agenda as Capitol Hill scrambles to negotiate a budget resolution for the remaining six appropriations bills set to expire on Friday, potentially triggering a partial government shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has signaled a lack of urgency on the TikTok bill, opting to review the text without committing to a voting timeline. Schumer has previously endorsed the idea of selling TikTok to a U.S. firm.
Moreover, some senators have shown reluctance toward the bill, rather than offering wholehearted support.
For instance, senators like Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., have expressed tentative support for the measure but stopped short of pledging a definitive yes vote.
“I’m certainly sympathetic to it. Let’s see how it goes through the Senate process. But yes, I think we need to put guardrails in regards to the ownership of TikTok,” stated Cardin in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The TikTok bill has also triggered discussions beyond Capitol Hill. Former GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has voiced opposition to a potential TikTok ban, a departure from his stance during his presidency when he advocated for the ban.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump remarked Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence reiterated on Sunday that Trump’s opposition to the TikTok bill is the main reason why he chose not to endorse him for the upcoming presidential election.
“The president’s reversal just in the last week on TikTok, following an administration where we literally changed the national consensus on China is the reason why, after a lot of reflection, I just concluded I cannot endorse the agenda that Donald Trump is carrying into this national debate,” Pence stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
