House Advances TikTok Divestment Bill in Foreign Aid Package

The House on Friday voted 316-94 to advance a foreign aid package, setting up a Saturday vote on four bills, including one that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., included the divestment bill (see 2403130039) in the $95 billion package, a move backed by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. President Joe Biden said previously he would sign the package, as well as the divestment bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., listed TikTok national security issues as a legislative priority (see 2404050050), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called for divestment (see 2404080066).

Cantwell’s backing bodes well for the provision, senators told us in interviews Thursday. She announced her support in a statement Wednesday after Johnson agreed to extend the divestment period from six months to a year. “I’m very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the Byte Dance divestment period,” she said. “Extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done.”

Cantwell’s statement is an “encouraging sign,” Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told us. Rubio, who has led several legislative efforts related to TikTok, said: “If ByteDance sells TikTok, there won’t be a problem with TikTok. I’m supportive of the effort. I’m glad to see progress being made.”

The legislation “would likely pass overwhelmingly in the Senate,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday.

TikTok didn’t comment Friday. The company said in a statement Wednesday: It’s unfortunate the House is “using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.”

The package includes $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, $26 billion for support of Israel and $8 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. Johnson said the House expects a vote on final passage by Saturday night. The House opened debate on the package Friday.

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are opposed to the TikTok divestment concept (see 2403220044). “It makes no sense to call out one company for harvesting personal data,” Warren told us Thursday. She urged support for her legislation with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., which would create a new regulator to oversee social media data privacy practices (see 2209160053). China’s involvement with TikTok justifies the national security concerns, but changing ownership doesn’t deal with the fundamental issue, she said: “Do these folks not understand how shell corporations work?”

If divestment is the best option right now, Congress needs to move forward, even if it risks a legal challenge, said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. Congress needs to see if the legislation can withstand judicial scrutiny, he said: “I would prefer to see it divested, so those individuals who want to use the recreational aspects of it can still do it but not at the expense of our national defense.”

TikTok “creates too much value” for it to “just disappear,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. He noted his office received backlash from TikTok users after the company urged content creators to contact their representatives. The backlash included a death threat from a “young lady,” said Tillis. He said he’s not pressing charges after he had a “quality discussion with her parents and Capitol Police.”

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he supports the legislation and that his only reservation was the short time frame for divesting. The 12-month timeline is a “better policy” and is more likely to “withstand legal challenges,” he said. Extending the timeline “makes sense,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va. Divestment would be a “very complicated deal.”

The administration “strongly supports” House passage of the package, the White House said in a statement Friday, which didn’t address the TikTok provision directly: “This supplemental provides over $95 billion in funding for critical bipartisan national security priorities.”

“If the House sends us a supplemental package, the Senate will move expeditiously to send it to the President’s desk,” Schumer said in a statement Friday. “And the President has said, if Congress passes the supplemental, he will sign it.”