Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, during a visit to Capitol Hill Thursday, told Senate Democrats behind closed doors that he would not veto a controversial Republican-led effort to roll back Washington, D.C.’s new progressive criminal code, a move that gives political cover to Democrats up for reelection.

Afterward, Biden refused to answer ABC News’ shouted questions about how he’d handle the congressional bill if it came to his desk. But multiple senators confirmed that he told them there would be no veto.

“He said that very clearly and we heard it very loud and clear,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., as he was departing the lunch. “I clapped very loudly because I feel the same.”

Biden later confirmed in a tweet that he would sign the legislation to rescind the new criminal code, passed by the D.C. City Council, if it comes to his desk. The city’s Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, had vetoed the local legislation but the council overrode her veto.

“I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” he tweeted. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.”

The city’s criminal code has been the subject of much debate locally and at the federal level, with Congress having the ultimate say over D.C. laws.

The Republican-controlled House voted last month to block the criminal code revision, which would require more jury trials and reduces penalties for carjacking, robbery and some other violent crimes. The Biden administration said at the time that it opposed the House action, saying Congress should respect D.C.’s autonomy, but didn’t commit to a presidential veto.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was hammered with questions about the president’s apparent reversal at the daily briefing. She told reporters his view on statehood hasn’t changed.

“The way that we see this is, it’s very different. This is, the D.C. Council put changes forward over the mayor’s objections. And the president doesn’t support changes like lowering penalties for carjacking,” she said.

“Look one thing that the president believes in is making sure that the streets in America and communities across the country are safe,” she added. “That includes D.C. — that does not change.”

Manchin, who’s up for reelection next November, announced his support for the effort to quash the new D.C. measure earlier this week. His support, coupled with Sen. John Fetterman’s absence, made it more likely that the GOP-bill would pass.

But Biden’s decision not to stand in its way gives potentially vulnerable Democrats cover on crime issues, some of whom left the lunch outright saying they’ll now vote with Republicans to quash the D.C. law.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat facing reelection in 2024, said he’ll vote with Republicans to quash the city measure next week, highlighting that Bowser vetoed it.

“I think calling it a home rule thing is not so accurate as this is about getting it right,” Heinrich said. “We all realize there are some very serious crime issues.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who will also be on the ballot next year, also said he’ll vote to block the D.C. law.

“I didn’t support what they [D.C.] did,” Casey said, though he said Biden’s decision not to veto did not affect his decision.

Other Democrats were more hesitant to explicitly state how they’d vote but several said they have real concerns about the D.C. measure. It was a noted change of tone from conversations earlier this week as Democrats consider the political implications of backing legislation that Republicans could claim makes them “soft on crime.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is still reviewing the bill, but said she is focused on keeping communities, including D.C. where she resides part time, safe.

“I can tell you the most important thing we hear from everyone is safe and security communities,” said Rosen, who will face reelection in 2024. “We have to be sure we are protecting everyone as best we can.”

“I have concerns about the reduction in some of the crime sentencing that I’ve seen, as a former prosecutor with respect to reduction in crime around carjackings and home invasions,” said Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who narrowly won reelection in purple Nevada in November. “It’s not ready yet for prime time.”

Most Democrats who said they will vote to block the GOP-proposed bill next week are doing so not because they back the changes to D.C. criminal code, but because support D.C. self-rule.

“If I had been on the city council I would have voted against the measure,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said. “But I respect the process of the people of the District of Columbia to self-determination.”

Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who is sponsoring the effort to quash the D.C. bill, dismissed those concerns.

“I think there’s a bit of conflation with D.C. statehood and what is simply a public safety issue. D.C. statehood is a separate issue. This is this is about the safety of everybody in D.C. It’s the safety of my staff and the safety of constituents. I had 150 people in to visit me just yesterday,” the Tennessee Republican said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Embattled New York Rep. George Santos said Thursday that he is “fully cooperating” with the House Ethics Committee, which is probing numerous allegations against the freshman Republican.

The committee voted unanimously earlier on Thursday to establish an “Investigative Subcommittee” to look into the claims made against Santos, which is the panel’s first move toward formally investigating him.

Among the accusations the subcommittee will look at are whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office,” according to a news release from the House Ethics Committee.

Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, will serve as chair of the subcommittee, and Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., will serve as the ranking member.

In a brief statement on Twitter, Santos wrote that he was cooperating and that “there will be no further comment made at this time.”

Santos has previously acknowledged lying about some parts of his background, specifically about graduating from college — which he did not — but he has insisted his behavior was similar to routine resume embellishment.

He has denied any criminal wrongdoing, and he vowed before he took office that he would be “effective” for his constituents.

“If for some way when we go through Ethics [Committee] that he has broken the law, then we will remove him, but it’s not my role,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in January. “I believe in the rule of law. A person’s innocent until proven guilty.”

If a majority of the committee determines Santos has done something wrong, they can then file a recommendation to the full House for one or more punishments, including: expulsion, censure, reprimand, fine, denial of various responsibilities or any other sanction determined to be appropriate by the committee.

ABC News’ Ella McCarthy contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Thursday he will visit East Palestine, Ohio, “at some point” as the area recovers from a train derailment that released toxic chemicals.

Biden was asked about if he had plans to visit as he was exiting a lunch with Senate Democrats flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“I’ve spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuing basis, as in Pennsylvania,” Biden told reporters. “I laid out a little bit in there what I think the answers are … and we will be implementing an awful lot to the legislation here.”

“I will be out there at some point,” he said, though he didn’t elaborate on when.

Biden’s been under political pressure from both Republicans and some Democrats to visit the site since a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3, prompting environmental and health concerns.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday said former President Donald Trump should not be entitled to immunity from lawsuits that aim to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the department said that while presidents should generally protected from having to face lawsuits related to their actions while in office, the allegations in suits against Trump for inciting violence on Jan. 6 amount to a rare exception.

“Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President’s Office includes a vast realm of such speech,” the filing states. “But that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include incitement of imminent private violence.”

The Justice Department sought several delays after they were asked by a panel of judges on the circuit court to formally take a position on Trump’s claims.

However, the department’s attorneys make clear in their filing that they aren’t taking any position on whether Trump should be considered liable, civilly or criminally, for the assault on the Capitol as special counsel Jack Smith is in the midst of his own criminal investigation of Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton repeatedly emphasizes in the filing that the department’s position declining to back Trump’s claims of immunity should not be used to create any new precedent.

Trump has denied wrongdoing related to the insurrection or to the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He rallied his supporters near the White House shortly before the Capitol was overrun in 2021 where Congress had gathered to certify his defeat to Joe Biden.

In his speech at that rally, Trump called on attendees to both “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol but to remain peaceful.

He has since been sued multiple times stemming from the Jan. 6 riot, including by lawmakers, Capitol Police officers and others who have said they suffered physical or emotional injuries that day as a result of him inciting a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol.

His attorneys have repeatedly sought to have the complaints thrown out, arguing he has absolute immunity from lawsuits for actions he took while in office.

After Trump was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last month by the longtime partner of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6, a spokesperson for the former president said in a statement that he had “clearly and unequivocally stated that Americans should ‘peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard.'”

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(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says she was the target of a plot to kill Jewish state officials, she tweeted Wednesday.

“The FBI has confirmed I was a target of the heavily armed defendant in this matter. It is my sincere hope that the federal authorities take this offense just as seriously as my Hate Crimes & Domestic Terrorism Unit takes plots to murder elected officials,” Nessel said in the tweet.

Court documents allege that Jack Carpenter III used the Twitter handle @TemperedReason to lodge his threats against Michigan state officials who are Jewish.

The FBI did not identify who else was the target in court documents unsealed Wednesday.

“I’m heading back to Michigan now threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish in the Michigan govt if they don’t leave, or confess, and now that kind of problem,” Carpenter allegedly wrote on Twitter on Feb. 17. “Because I can Legally do that, right?”

He also claimed that “new Israel” was located in a nine-mile radius of Tipton, Michigan, where he lived, court documents said.

The FBI said it had uncovered that Carpenter is being investigated for the theft in December 2022 of a firearm, which, according to the Justice Department, he currently had in his possession.

According to a complaint, at the time he allegedly made the threats, Carpenter was in Texas and requested money from his mother to return to Michigan but became angry that she wouldn’t give it to him and she then she called police.

His mother told police, “CARPENTER has three handguns, a 12 gauge shotgun, and two hunting rifles, one of which is an MIA, military style weapon,” the complaint said.

He also allegedly wrote that anyone who tried to stop him would be “met with deadly self-defense.”

Carpenter is charged with making interstate threats and a lawyer for Carpenter did not respond to ABC News request for comment.

Javed Ali, the former senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, told ABC News, the alleged threats “underscore the persistent threat from racially-motivated extremists in the United States.”

“As the ADL and other organizations have recently noted, there remains a high level of threats from individuals with white supremacist and neo-Nazi views against Jewish communities across the United States,” Ali, who is now an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, said. “Twitter and other online social media platforms also continue to confront challenges with removing extremist content and identifying radicalized individuals capable of taking violent action.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) traces back to 1974 and touts itself as “the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world,” but observers say its attendance list this year — and those who chose not to attend — reflect broader debates over the identity of the GOP as the next presidential primary takes shape.

The gathering, a longtime window into the grassroots of the Republican Party, in recent years has morphed into a prominent stage for allies of former President Donald Trump and is anticipated to heavily promote his platform this week, including offering him a prime time speaking slot Saturday.

Yet as other current and potential 2024 presidential candidates flock to Maryland’s National Harbor to address activists at the conference, which began Wednesday, over a half-dozen prospective contenders are instead choosing to keep their distance.

Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, all of whom are either running or have said they are mulling a 2024 bid, are slated to speak at CPAC. Current lawmakers on the schedule include firebrand Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Former lawmakers include some of those outside the U.S., like former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee and election conspiracy theorist, is also slated to speak.

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who are seen as possible 2024 hopefuls, are among those staying away — with some opting instead to attend a donor retreat hosted by the anti-tax Club for Growth.

“Ten years ago, [CPAC] was an opportunity to test your messages to conservative leaders and influencers all over the country and to have a big audience get to know you from the podium. And I don’t think that’s where it is today,” said one aide to a possible 2024 candidate. “Last time I was there, it almost felt more like a college crowd than it did a serious thinker crowd.”

CPACs of yesteryear featured notable moments, including Ronald Reagan’s “city upon a hill” speech, and strategists who spoke with ABC News, who asked not to be quoted by name, reminisced about past conferences they said offered a more representative cross-section of Republican voters.

Defenders of the conference counter that CPAC still offers a marketplace of ideas.

“Traditionally you’ve always had your libertarian conservatives, your free market, laissez fair-type of conservatives, you had your hawks and foreign affair guys, you’d have your Rand Paul-libertarian types. Now you have your MAGA types, and then you have your ultra MAGA types. I think CPAC is a classic example of growing pains,” said former Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis, who first attended CPAC in 1978 and has been to almost every conference since.

But given that, the benefits of attending, even for those eyeing a presidential campaign and activist support, could be diminished, the strategists said.

“Now it’s kind of turned into a one-trick pony,” said a source familiar with Pence’s thinking. “It’s not like where it was 20 years ago, where it was conservatives from all over the country who were influencers from all the different states.”

When reached by ABC News to explain DeSantis’ absence from CPAC, an aide said he was instead attending GOP dinners elsewhere.

The person declined to comment further when asked why the Florida governor chose to attend those events, including the Club for Growth retreat, over CPAC.

Candidates who travel to CPAC also have to contend with the prospect of being tied to an event helmed by Matt Schlapp, the conference’s chairman, who is currently mired in controversy.

A former staffer to Herschel Walker’s 2022 Senate bid has alleged that Schlapp “groped” and “fondled” his crotch while he was driving Schlapp back from a bar in Atlanta, according to a report from The Daily Beast. The staffer also filed a lawsuit against Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes, seeking $9.4 million for sexual battery and defamation, according to a report.

A statement from Schlapp’s attorney at the time said the complaint is “false” and the “Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter lawsuit options.”

The source familiar with Pence’s thinking told ABC News for this story that the decision to not attend was made before the allegations about Schlapp emerged, but Anuzis, the longtime CPAC attendee, said the scandal could be a factor in deciding whether to appear.

“There’ll be some people who I think are taken aback by that and will want to be cautious about participating in one way or the other, and that’s just the way politics works,” he said. “He’s a potential liability at this stage of the game and so it’s safer for some folks who are really worried about that to stay away.”

GOP strategist Doug Heye put it this way: “The most valuable asset any candidate or potential candidate has is their time. And so they’re making very real decisions, whether it’s on this or certainly moving forward on other things, on where they’re spending their time.”

“Obviously, the Club [for Growth, holding its own event] has become a bigger and bigger funder on the Republican side, and if you’re running for president or if you’re running for Senate, that’s an important audience for you to address,” Heye said.

CPAC organizers, meanwhile, brushed off any perceived snubs.

“It’s a missed opportunity for any potential Presidential Candidate to not address the thousands of grassroots activists at CPAC this year. Luckily, CPAC attendees will get to hear from every announced Presidential candidate and over 100 premiere speakers, including over 30 elected officials,” CPAC spokesperson Megan Powers Small told ABC News on Saturday.

And for its part, Trump’s campaign is seizing on the way the former president has shaped CPAC, casting it as a sign of his continued hold on the GOP as he ramps up his third presidential campaign.

“CPAC is the embodiment of the conservative movement as well as the Republican Party. … The conference has always represented the ‘springboard’ for the presidential primary season, and President Trump’s outsized influence at this year’s conference combined with recent polling success shows just how dominant his candidacy is as we approach 2024,” said Trump senior adviser Jason Miller.

Yet should would-be candidates continue to avoid CPAC, operatives said that could change the media perception of the event which could result in fewer headlines.

“One of the things that we’re going to have to see after the fact is, how much coverage does all of this get?” Heye said. “If you’re not getting that, it makes it easier to potentially turn down.”

“It has certainly morphed into more of an event that is just giving rally speeches to a crowd, and that had proven to be popular. But at a certain point, there are diminishing returns,” he added. “There are obviously greater concerns about how effective of a tool this has been and whether or not it’s a political version of the Star Trek convention.”

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(NEW YORK) — On Wednesday, former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway met with prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as part of their criminal investigation into Trump and the alleged hush payment to Stormy Daniels, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Conway is the latest witness to meet with prosecutors. Others include Michael Cohen, Trump’s one time fixer and lawyer who funded the payment, and David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer who helped arrange it.

Last month, Cohen gave his 15th interview with the district attorney’s office, which was the first since a recently convened grand jury began hearing evidence about Daniels’ long-denied affair with Trump. Pecker appeared before the grand jury on Jan. 30.

A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment about Conway’s appearance or the status of the investigation into Trump’s role in the payment, that was made to Daniels in the closing moments of the 2016 presidential campaign to keep her quiet about a long-denied affair she alleged she had with Trump.

The hush-money case was initially rejected by former District Attorney Cy Vance, but revived under current DA Bragg, whose office has been fending off criticism of a decision not to charge Trump earlier.

Conway’s meeting was first reported by The New York Times.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and dismissed the investigation as political and has called Bragg’s investigation a “witch hunt.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is probing whether Trump had a hand in falsifying business records when his company reimbursed Cohen the $130,000 he gave to Daniels, ABC News has previously reported according to sources.

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(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans on Thursday introduced The Parents Bill of Rights, which they say would give parents more insight and power into their children’s education.

According to a breakdown of the bill from Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., school districts would be publicly required to post curriculum information, provide parents with a copy of revisions to state education standards, provide parents with the list of books and reading materials available in the library and more.

“You have a say in your kids’ education, not government and not telling you what to do,” McCarthy said in his remarks.

Activists, parents and families from across the country gathered in the Rayburn Room to tout the new proposal alongside McCarthy, the House Republican Conference chair, Elise Stefanik, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and others.

According to Letlow, parents must also be allowed to address their local school board on issues impacting their children’s education and must be given a say when schools update privacy policies while schools should be encouraged to consider community feedback in decision making.

The bill would require parental consent before medical exams take place at school, “including mental health or substance use disorder screenings,” and inform parents of violent activity at school.

“We are going to fight to make sure that our voices are heard, that we have a right to have a seat at the table when it comes to our children’s education,” Letlow said Thursday.

A similar bill in 2021, from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., failed to move forward in the previous Congress.

The new bill has 73 republican co-sponsors and the GOP-led House “will pass” it later this year, Stefanik said.

“I couldn’t imagine someone would oppose a Parents Bill of Rights,” McCarthy told ABC News after the event, adding, “Parent gets to guarantee[d] to know what their children are being taught, parent gets to know what their money is being spent on. … More importantly, the parents get to know if there is any activity on campus that could harm their child or not.”

However, the debate over what is taught in public school classrooms and how has indeed become controversial and education has been a hot-button issue for the GOP since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed schooling into the home during widespread shutdowns.

In his House speaker acceptance speech in January, McCarthy said he would help pass bills to address what he claimed was “woke indoctrination in our schools.”

It’s a sentiment applauded and repeated by conservative legislators targeting education, though Democrats have criticized such efforts as discriminatory and anti-free speech.

Across the country, Republican lawmakers have sought to restrict certain subjects from classrooms as well as allow some parents to have more control over their child’s education and access to certain material.

In recent years, schools and libraries have been bombarded with a record number of calls for book banning from conservative groups that have primarily affected literature written by or about people of color or LGBTQ people, according to the American Library Association, which tracks book ban attempts.

Republican-backed legislation in several states has also sought to restrict race-related or LGBTQ-related content in schools, some of which has been criticized by educators and students and has pushed some teachers from schools.

In Florida, more than one million books are under review due to recent legislation banning certain race- and LGBTQ-related content in schools.

The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the U.S., which represents educators and school faculty, said in a statement that the new education bill in the House is driving a wedge between educators and parents who “continue to be partners, working to ensure all students, no matter their race or background, have the opportunity to succeed.”

“McCarthy would rather seek to stoke racial and social division and distract us from what will really help our students thrive: an inspiring, inclusive, and age-appropriate curriculum that prepares each and every one of them for their future,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement.

She continued, “Parents and voters agree that elected leaders should be focused on getting students the individualized support they need, keeping guns out of schools, and addressing educator shortages.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is expected to soon wield his veto power for the first time to save a Department of Labor rule related to ESG investments.

The rule, which makes it easier for retirement plan managers to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance principles in their investment decisions, has been dubbed “woke” by congressional Republicans who argue it unfairly penalizes certain industries like oil and gas.

The White House has countered that the rule “reflects what successful marketplace investors already know” about the potential positive impacts of ESG and is meant to remove barriers put in place by the previous administration.

The Senate voted Wednesday to topple the new regulation, 50-46. Two Democrats — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Montana’s Jon Tester — joined Republicans in approving the resolution. The House previously approved it on Tuesday in a 216 to 204 vote, with Maine Democrat Jared Golden joining the GOP.

Biden will veto the resolution, the White House said. It will mark the first time he’s had to use the presidential power after two years of a Democratic-controlled Congress.

Given the margins the resolution passed through Congress this week, it is unlikely to be approved again by veto-proof majorities.

“The President will continue to deliver for America’s workers. If the President were presented with H.J. Res. 30, he would veto it,” the White House said in a statement earlier this week.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., brought the resolution to the Senate floor under the Congressional Review Act to bypass the 60-vote Senate filibuster. In floor remarks on Wednesday, Braun called the Department of Labor rule “a step too far” on the part of the federal government.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., described ESG as a “scam by the radical left” to push a liberal agenda.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, at the daily briefing ahead of the Senate vote, in turn accused Republicans of forcing their ideology “down the throats of the private sector and handcuffing investors.”

“This is unacceptable to the president,” she said. “And that is why he will veto this bill if it does come to his desk. President Biden is focused on protecting workers’ hard earned life savings and pensions. And that is — that is what he’s going to continue to do.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in floor remarks also fired back that Republicans are placing retirees in the middle of their “wholly made up culture war.”

“This isn’t about ideological preference. It’s about looking at the biggest possible picture possible for investors to minimize risk and maximize returns,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, noting that many leading companies already publish ESG reports.

The Department of Labor rule went into effect on Jan. 30. The agency said it was to remove the barriers on ESG investments put in place during the Trump administration and would make retirement savings and pensions “more resilient.”

The White House has said that the rule is not a mandate and reflects feedback from 900 written comments and 20,000 signatures from financial service companies, plan participants and more.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would give President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok in the United States despite objections from some lawmakers and advocates who say the measure could disrupt online speech freedoms.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday he hasn’t read the bill yet and wouldn’t comment on it. Ultimately, it would be up to McCarthy and House GOP leadership to bring the bill to the floor, where it would be expected to pass.

The Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act — or the DATA Act — aims to create a legal framework that would allow the executive branch to ban TikTok and other apps owned by Chinese companies.

The bill, introduced Friday by Committee Chair Mike McCaul, R-Texas, before moving quickly through the committee process, would allow President Biden or any future president to impose sanctions, including a possible ban, against any company that “knowingly provides or may transfer sensitive personal data” to any foreign person or company that is “subject to the jurisdiction or direction of … China.”

The panel’s vote comes just days after the Biden administration ordered federal agencies 30 days to ensure they do not have TikTok on any federal devices, and to ensure that contractors meet the same standard within 90 days. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its data is not held in China.

The legislation would change what’s known as the Berman amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which blocks the U.S. government from restricting the free flow of “information and informational materials” in overseas trade. Those amendments have always been considered an impediment for any executive action to ban TikTok.

Democrats on the committee warned the bill is overly broad. In a letter to McCaul and Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the Americans Civil Liberties Union warned this legislation “creates a slippery slope” that could “erode” the Berman amendment’s protections for the free flow of movies, books, and artwork.

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