Clock Ticking on TikTok
Even in an era of extreme partisanship, Republicans and Democrats can find common
cause in countering China.
Every session of Congress, the party in power is authorized to form special committees—known as select committees—outside of the standing 21 committees within the House of Representatives or the 16 standing committees within the Senate.
Select committees are temporary and are intended to offer Congress the flexibility to address emerging issues mainly through investigations and hearings with a focus on bipartisanship and legislative solutions.
Nonetheless, over the years, these select committees have become somewhat political in the House of Representatives. When the Democrats had control of the House in the 117th Congress (January 2021 to January 2023), they added four select committees, most notably the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Republicans, in charge of the House in the current Congress, scrapped all of the select committees formed by the Democrats and created only one: the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
On paper, the panel’s purpose is to work in a bipartisan manner to build consensus on the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party and develop a plan to defend the United States and its interests and values. Politically, it has been a win for Republicans because it shows the party is serious about addressing what its members see as a national security threat (China) and it demonstrates they can work together on a serious subject matter. The committee was initially chaired by former Representative Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) serving as the ranking member. Krishnamoorthi is still the ranking member, but when Gallagher abruptly announced his resignation earlier this year, Representative John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) assumed leadership of the committee.
Under Gallagher’s chairmanship, the committee met regularly (some members said too often), had assigned reading, and conducted fact-finding trips. With Moolenaar in charge, the committee has slowed the cadence of its meetings, though members did visit Taiwan in February following the presidential election there.
Committee members have introduced multiple pieces of legislation over the past year and a half. The most notable is HR 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, otherwise known as the “TikTok bill.” While Congress can’t agree on much, members on both sides of the aisle can agree on banning the video hosting service.
In general, HR 7521 would prevent access to TikTok via an app store or the web unless China-based ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) severs its ties with controlling foreign adversaries. The bill goes further to give the president the authority to designate any other social media application a national security threat, thereby shutting it off from being accessible via an app store or the web.
The House in March passed HR 7521 by a vote of 352-65 with an interesting collection of opponents—a mix of Freedom Caucus members, Democratic leadership, Democrats from tech-heavy districts in Washington and California, and members of the Progressive Caucus. It’s unclear what the Senate will do, but Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) has introduced a bipartisan bill similar to HR 7521.
In a time of seemingly frozen polarization in Congress, China has proven to be a topic that can thaw it. Should Democrats take control of the House following the November 2024 elections, I would be surprised if they don’t keep this select committee alive.
