Full Committee Markup of 2 Bills

committee come to order the chair recognizes herself for an opening statement good afternoon everyone and welcome to today's markup of two important pieces of legislation earlier today we heard from members of the intelligence community about the dangers posed by applications like tiktok that are controlled by Foreign adversaries and who are determined to exploit and weaponize Americans data we also witness firsthand in time how the Chinese Communist Party can weaponize platforms like tiktok to manipulate the American people this morning prior to our hearing tick talk used as influence and power to force users to contact their representatives if they wanted to continue using tiktok this is just small taste of how the CCP weaponizes applications it controls to manipulate tens of millions of people to further their agenda these applications present a clear national security threat to the United States and necessitate the decisive action we will take today first we will consider hr-7521 the protecting Americans from foreign adversary controlled applications Act which will prohibit applications that are controlled by our foreign adversaries and pose a clear National Security risk if control is not divest divested we will also consider HR 7520 the protecting Americans data from foreign adversaries Act of 2024 led by ranking member Frank pallone which will prevent data Brokers from sharing American sensitive information with foreign adversaries for an adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party posed the greatest national security threat of our time our adversaries are working actively to undermine Americans Global Leadership at its core hr-7521 is about banning foreign adversaries such as China from targeting surveilling and manipulating the American people through apps like tiktok the bill takes a two-pronged approach first it requires by dance to divest tiktok and other applications it controls within 180 days after enactment of bill or that will be prohibited in the United States second the bill creates a narrow process to allow the executive branch to prohibit access to an app that is owned by a foreign adversary if it poses a threat to National Security this is not a blank check for the vitaministration or future administrations to ban whatever apps they want the executive agencies including the national security agencies and the committee on foreign investment in the United States syphius must agree that a foreign an adversary controlled app poses a threat to National Security threat to National Security must be well documented the public must be notified and the information must be presented to Congress at which point the Kong the president may make a determination that a foreign adversary controlled application must be divested or face Prohibition in the United States this prohibition can only be applied to Applications controlled by a foreign adversary which the bill defines as China Russia Iran and North Korea of these cases there is an option for divestment to occur if by dance divest tiktok meaning the Chinese Communist party is no longer controlling the app tiktok continue can continue to operate in the United States CCP controlled tiktok has claimed this bill is an outright ban it is not we have given tiktok a clear choice divest from your parent company which is beholden to the Chinese Communist party and remain operational in the United States or I'd with the Chinese Communist party and face a ban the choice is today we will also be considering HR 7520 the protecting Americans data from foreign adversaries Act of 2024 data Brokers collect a stunning amount of sensitive information and data on Americans from people's physical and mental health to win and where they're traveling once collected this sensitive information is sold to the highest bidder including foreign adversaries like China I appreciate the work of ranking member pallone on this legislation and his leadership that will prevent data Brokers from sharing America's sensitive information with foreign adversaries in the companies they control this is an important complement to our continued efforts to establish a comprehensive data privacy standard in order effectively crack down on abuses of Americans personal information today we will take the first step in creating long overdue laws to protect Americans from the threat posed by apps controlled by our adversaries and to send a very strong message that the US will always stand up for our values and freedom we will not allow for the continued targeting targeting surveilling and manipulation of Americans through foreign adversary controlled apps I'm thankful to everyone here today who has worked in a bipartisan manner to get us here including ranking member pallone China select committee on the CCP chairman Mike Gallagher ranking member Christina Murphy and I look to today's market mark up and I yield back recognize the gentleman from New Jersey representative plone for five minutes for an opening statement well let me thank chair Rogers for her cooperation on this markup and the executive hearing that we held earlier today we're here to mark up two bills that we considered during our executive session earlier today we've just heard from the intelligence community and by Foreign adversary of control of communication applications and their ability to easily purchase America's data from data brokers we also heard about the Constitutional issues implicated when legislation identifies a particular company or application for further scrutiny particularly when it involves speech and Association now as I mentioned at the beginning our full Committee hearing this morning I do not believe it was necessary to rush this process nevertheless I hope members feel they gained important information in the executive session as we prepare to move forward on these bills on this timetable first let me mention hr7521 to protecting Americans from foreign certain conditions Act bipartisan legislation introduced by representative Christian Murphy and Gallagher this bill would address the National Security risk opposed by certain applications operated by companies controlled by Foreign adversaries specifically under the Bill's framework if an application is Dean to be operated by a company controlled by a foreign adversary the application must be divested from foreign adversary control Within 180 days if the application is not divested entities in the United States would be prohibited from Distributing maintaining or updating the application through an online Marketplace and providing internet hosting services the bill also requires controlled adversary applications to provide users with all available data from their account including photos videos and posts if requested it this will allow uses to move their data to another application of their choice we'll also consider HR 7520 protecting Americans data from foreign adversaries Act of 2024 some legislation that I introduced with chair Rogers this bill protects American sensitive personal data by prohibiting data that well I should by prohibiting data Brokers from selling transferring or giving access to such data to foreign adversaries where entities control by Foreign adversaries it also enforcement authority to the FTC and provides them with the authority to seek civil penalties of more than 50,000 for each violation of this prohibition I will supporting both of these bills today my hope is that if enacted HR 7521 will force divestment of tiktok and Americans will be able to continue use this and other similarly situated platforms without the risk that they're being operated controlled by our adversaries as I this morning many of these platforms are modern-day media companies and we have a long history of restricting our Airways from ownership by Foreign governments and individuals due to the National Security concerns such arrangement pose no different here and I take the concerns raised by the intelligence community this morning very seriously they have asked Congress to give them more authority to act in these narrowly defined situations and I believe that this bill will do that and again I appreciate your Rogers working with me on the protecting America's data from foreign adversaries act this is also very important necessary Bill given that even if tiktok and other foreign adversary controlled applications cease to operate in the United States foreign adversary governments was still be able purchase vast amounts of data about Americans through other means we must put an end to this and that's exactly what our bipartisan Bill does I also continue to firmly believe that we must pass comprehensive National Data privacy protections along the lines of the bill overly past here in the committee last Congress and we are going to continue to work on that so I appreciate the work oh my colleagues on both sides the aisle on these important bills and with that Madam chair yield back the of my time and yields back chair calls up HR 7521 and asks the clerk to report HR 7521 a bill to protect the National Security of the United States from the thread posed by Foreign adversary controlled applications such as section the first reading of the bills dispensed with and the bill will be open for Amendment at any point so ordered does anyone seek to be recognized on the bill seeing none question now occurs on approving okay yes or what purpose does Miss issue seek recognition thank you madam chairman strike the last word General ladies recognized for five minutes thank you madam chairwoman and our ranking member thank you for the work that was put into this both to have the secured briefing and now the markup of a very legislation I support the legislation and I do so because our first and most important responsibility as members of Congress is to defend our constitution protect and defend our nation and its Nash and we do so by protecting our national security and this issue is a national security issue I don't Banning and I don't think anyone on this committee does but I do think that we have a very important case relative to divestiture this legislation what separate tiktok the company from Beijing and it's PRC based parent company and it would separate the data that tiktok collects it's algorithms and it's source code from Beijing tiktok has over a hundred and seventy million users in the United States this is a stunning scale and that gives it access to the personal data of every single one of that is part of the 170 million plus users the National Security Law of the people's Republic of China requires all Chinese organizations to quote support assist and cooperate with National Intelligence efforts under fight dance could be compelled by the Chinese government to provide data on American tiktok users this is a serious National security threat to the United States and to the privacy of every American and we can't ignore it the protecting American's data from foreign adversary controlled applications Act will address a known and immediate national security threat and it will protect Americans privacy and it will give this Administration and future administrations the authority to respond to such future National Security threats I know that my colleagues here have heard me say that I serve for almost a decade on the house intelligence committee and I'm privy to the details of Chinese espionage and the threat that that poses I raise the alarm on Huawei and ZTE well over decade ago Congress action we identified the threat posed by equipment manufactured by untrusted suppliers like Huawei and ZTE and passed the securing trusted Communications networks Act and the secure equipment act to address those threats the precedent for Congress to take this action exist and we shouldn't delay the technology we're considering today may be different but the threat and our duty remain the same even when this bill becomes law we still will need to pass comprehensive privacy legislation that limits what data can be collected and used and and to protect American data far better than Banning any single company so with that Madam chairman I yield back just back for the furniture chair recognizes Mr Crenshaw for five minutes to speak on the bill thank you madam chair I moved to strike the last word gentleman's recognized for five minutes in 1999 to Chinese generals wrote a Doctrine called unrestricted Warfare where they argued that to beat the US China has to confront the United States in a non-war non-military sphere of conflict they wrote quote Warfare is no longer an activity can find only to the military sphere and that the course of any War could be changed or its outcome decided by political factors economic factors diplomatic factors cultural factors technological factors or other non-military factors China is at war with us and they use tiktok as a weapon or at least they can it's a platform that 150 million users are addicted to and can be persuaded by as we're seeing just today if you want to use your tiktok account you have to put in your ZIP code so that tiktok can tell you which representative you should call and that's just the beginning imagine when China wants to use it more nefariously imagine when they want to truly engage in psychological warfare against the American people spread rumors to intimidate us break down our will manipulate what we see manipulate public opinion could drive cultural Trends they could drive us into insanity if they wanted because people are truly addicted to that app and they have all your data they could tailor it they could tailor that message to speak to each individual you want to how you build a super AI machine with a lot of data and they could easily weaponize that when they want to that's why we're so concerned about this it's not because we're old and grumpy and don't understand tiktok and how you use it for your business and how you use it to communicate with your friends was on social media long before any of the Gen zers who are mad about tiktok I understand but the reality is is that tiktok is owned by a Chinese company called bite dance despite their denials it's actually with it's actually on their website that their parent company is by Dance by dances in China and when you're in China you are subject to Chinese laws in Chinese laws dictate that if they want you to be a spy for China or operate on behalf of the Communist Party you are obligated to do so that's just how China Works a scenario that I'm putting out there where they could manipulate and engage in psychological warfare against the American people it is not a crazy scenario it is it is an absolutely plausible scenario worth noting this legislation doesn't actually ban tiktok this legislation simply says that it had it would have to be owned by an American company that's it that's owned by American company well then we could all download it and be happy with and we can watch our dance videos it's all this does I don't think this goes too far this legislation has been carefully thought through in collaboration with our colleagues across the aisle and collaboration with experts in the administration and I urge my colleagues to pass it for the for the sake of our future for the sake of our for our our future against potentially adversarial Chinese Communist Party and for the sake of our young people and I yield back gentleman yields back for the discussion are there amendments seeing none the question now occurs on approving HR 7521 and a roll call has been requested the clerk will the roll Burgess Burgess votes I Lata Lata votes I Guthrie got three votes I Griffith Griffith votes I bill arakis Little Rock is votes I Bouchon Beyond votes I Hudson Hudson votes eye Wahlberg Wahlberg votes eye Carter Carter votes eye Duncan Duncan votes eye Palmer done done votes eye Curtis Curtis votes eye let's go let's go votes I Pence Pence votes eye Crenshaw Crenshaw votes eye Joyce Joyce votes eye Armstrong are wrong votes eye Weber Weber votes eye Allen Alan votes I balderson balderson votes eye Fulcher vulture votes eye Pflueger Pflueger votes eye harshbarger harshbarger votes eye Miller Meeks Miller Meeks votes eye kamik hammock votes eye obernulty obernaulty votes eye blown plone votes eye as you and both to get to get votes I shouldkowski Matsui Matsui votes eye Castor Caster votes eye sarbanes sarbanes votes eye tonko taco votes I Clark Clark votes I Cardenas carterness votes I Ruiz Ruiz votes eye Peters Peter's votes eye Dingle Dingle votes eye VZ VI Custer Custer votes eye Kelly Kelly votes eye butter gone blow Rochester Soto Soto votes eye Craig Craig votes I schreier Shire votes eye Tran your hand votes eye Fletcher Fletcher votes eye chair Rogers chair Rogers votes eye is a Mr Palmer recorded Mr Palmer is not recorded Palmer votes eye Madam clerkow is MS strikowski recorded mishkowski is not recorded shekowski votes eye how is Miss Bergen recorded Miss badagon is not recorded badagon votes I clerk will report chair Rogers on that vote there were 50 eyes and zero nose the eyes have it in the bills adopted share calls up HR 75 and asks the clerk to report hr-7520 a bill to prohibit data Brokers from transferring sensitive data of the United States individuals to foreign adversaries and for other purposes without objection the first reading the bills dispensed with and the bill will be open for Amendment at any point so ordered does anyone seek to be recognized on the bill are there any Ms Trahan for what purpose do you seek recognition thank you chair Rogers I have an amendment at the desk and CB NL the clerk will report amendment to HR 7520 offered by Mr Hand page one line four strike as the and all that follows through the period at the end of five and insert as the data elimination and limiting extensive tracking and exchange Act without objection the reading will be dispensed with ladies recognized for five minutes in support of her Amendment Mr Strahan well I like to thank the chair and the ranking member for calling today's markup I'm thrilled that the committee has resumed its vital work to protect the privacy of every American and I commend the committee for bringing forward the protecting American data from foreign adversaries Act data Brokers have recklessly engaged in invasive data trafficking activities that violate our privacy and in many cases pose a direct threat to our national security Madam chair I'd like to submit into the record of study from Duke University that revealed the ease by which foreign actors can purchase data on American Service members without objection thank you in one case in this study for as little as 12 cents per individual researchers were able to purchase the family histories credit scores home addresses Health statuses and political affiliations for Americans in the military from foreign data brokers and they were able to it with little to no vetting I'll say that again family histories credit scores home addresses Health statuses and political affiliations can be done for intelligence officials tasked with safeguarding our most closely held secrets this is a grave threat to our men and women in uniform and to our national security and while the efforts of the committee today represent an important step forward in reigning in the Shady and often negligent practices of data brokers we must do more the bill in front of us today correctly bans data broker sales to foreign adversaries like my colleagues here today I support that wholeheartedly however I'm deeply concerned about simple workarounds that would allow an overseas middleman to buy the same data we're seeking to protect and immediately resell it to a hostile Nation like China Russia Iran or North Korea way to stop that from happening is to ensure that the data can be taken out of the hands of brokers in the first I introduced the bipartisan delete act with Senators Bill Cassidy and John ossip to give every American including those Brave service members who are courageously defending our country the right to have data Brokers delete and stop collecting their data and my Amendment which I will withdraw would take that straightforward approach and make it part of this important bill I know this is a concern shared by many members on both sides of the day as as well as the officials who briefed us earlier today and I simply asked that the chair and ranking member work with me to ensure that we are maximizing this legislation's ability to protect American's data and strengthen our national security why leave any decision over our personal sensitive data and that of the courageous Americans tasked with our nation to data brokers who have shown blatantly disregard on how to handle it work together to get right I withdraw my Amendment and I yield back General lady withdraws her Amendment are there amendments further discussion for what purpose does Miss SSU seek recognition I would just to ask our colleague why she's withdrawing the amendment it seems to me that there's a really compelling case that she has made and it's an opportunity for us to do something about it why are we you down the road sure I'd be happy to yield let me just say this the what the gentleman has from Massachusetts has a detailed is part of our national data privacy bill right and I mean think I need to stress to everybody maybe I didn't it enough when I spoke earlier you know our ultimate goal and the shared by a chair Rogers and I is to get that bill passed and so that's an inherent part of that larger bill and we haven't given up on it we're still meeting you know both sides of the aisle four corners with the Senate to try to move it so we're not in any way not ignoring it we've embraced it a completely so I I just wanted you to be aware of that well I appreciate the explanation but we are doing something about data brokers in this so it to me is a unique opportunity to take up the whole the entirety you know the broader issue but with that I I yield back the balance of my time I just hope before I yield back I just hope that it's a policy that that there's a guarantee of taking it up because this really can't be left on on the table I would miss and gotten it done but I'm not in charge so I yield back generally yields back for the discussion for what purpose does mrkowski seek recognitions and they asked to strike the last word generally these wreck recognized for five minutes thank you I'm in favor of the legislation of Mr pallone's the protecting American data from legislation but I I also want to say follow up on what he had had said for food for far too long data brokers have been operating out of sight of most consumers people don't really know that there are such things as data Brokers and there are not only concerned about China One Else they are concerned right now and worried about the data that is being held and used by all kinds of corporations that end up selling that through data brokers and I wanted to reinforce what Congressman Pelon had said is that we need to do is to get moving on the American data privacy and protection act that we have to have a privacy for people we have to give them the opportun to opt out from what the what data Brokers are are doing and provide them with some power in order to protect themselves so I think this is a good step but I think that as soon as we can we have to go further consumers have been waiting American consumers have been waiting too long with that I yield back gentle lady yields back the timeline has slipped on that other bill but the commitment is still very strong we're working on it okay let's see here further discussion further amendments seeing none question occurs on approving HR 7520 and a roll has been requested the clerk will call the roll Burgess Burgess votes eye Lata guthrie got three votes eye Griffith Griffith boats eye billerica's votes eye Bouchon Bouchon votes eye Hudson Hudson votes eye Wahlberg Wahlberg votes eye Carter Carter votes eye Duncan Duncan votes eye Palmer Palmer votes eye done done votes eye Curtis current votes I let's go let's go votes I Pence Pence votes eye Crenshaw Crenshaw votes eye Joyce Joyce votes eye Armstrong Armstrong votes eye Weber Weber votes eye Allen Allen votes I balderson balderson votes eye vulture vulture votes eye Pflueger Pflueger votes eye harshbarger harshbarger votes eye Miller Meeks Miller's votes eye kamik kamik votes eye over Nolte over Nolte votes eye pallone hi eye s u s u votes eye to get to get votes eye shakowski shekowski votes I met sui Matsui votes eye Castor Castor votes eye sarbanes sarbanes both eye tonko all right votes eye Clark core quotes I Cardenas Cardenas votes eye Ruiz Ruiz votes I Peters Peters votes eye Dingle Dingle votes eye VZ VZ votes eye Custer Custer votes eye Kelly Kelly votes eye badagon Paragon votes eye blunt Rochester Soto Soto votes eye Craig Craig votes I schreier prior votes eye your hand your hand votes eye Fletcher Fletcher votes eye chair Rogers I chair Rogers votes eye Madam clerica was Mr Latta recorded Mr Ladd is not recorded Lata votes I clerk will report cheers on that vote there were 50 eyes and zero nose the eyes have it in the bills adopted without objection staff is authorized to make Technical and conforming changes to the legislation approved by committee today so ordered without objection the committee stands stands adjourned