MORE POWER for March 10th
1000 MORE's weekly nonpartisan roundup of the most important happenings in federal government, written in a way that doesn't require a law degree to understand, with tools to take action
March 10, 2023
This week in MORE POWER:
TikTok ban update
Preventing Child Sex Abuse Act
Legislation to support veterans
Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act
A bill to terminate the department of education
Social Security Fairness Act
What's going on with Congress & the D.C. crime bill
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A Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill on TikTok?
Legislators continue to craft bills that target TikTok, and its parent company ByteDance, because the Chinese government is likely able to access our data through the platform. This week, Senators Mark Warner, (D-VA) and John Thune, (R-SD) made news with the announcement that they are working together on a bill to not only regulate TikTok, but to mitigate any threats from foreign adversaries through social media.
The RESTRICT Act would task the Department of Commerce with developing a threat assessment and mitigation process for foreign social media companies, including those that pop up in future. It does not target specific companies, but instead looks to evaluate risk by region. Contrast that with the House bill that singles out TikTok, currently lacks bipartisan support, and has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union and others for potentially stifling free speech. The Senate's effort is looking more likely to pass.
While committee leaders on both sides of the aisle in both chambers are holding talks to discuss how to best approach protecting Americans' data through legislation, Congressional and White House leadership seem in no hurry to pass a bill. None of these bills have been scheduled for a vote. You can use 1000 MORE to contact your legislators on these efforts.
A Bill To Terminate The Department Of Education
For the past several terms, Rep. Thomas Massey, (R-KY) has introduced a bill that would end the federal Department of Education, and he has done it again this year by introducing H.R. 899. Massie and his Republican co-sponsors make the argument that school curriculum and policy is best done at the state and local level, rather than by federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
The Department of Education was created in 1980, and it has grown to 4,400 employees and a $68 billion budget. Their main functions are to set policies on federal financial aid for education, distributing as well as monitoring those funds, research, data collection and sharing on American schools, prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.
The House has not yet scheduled Massey's bill for a vote. Have a view on this that you would like to share?
Nailed it.
Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse
While former U.S. Women's Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was tried and convicted for the decades long abuse of team members, in no small part due to the testimony of survivors like Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney, Nassar was convicted under state laws for which there are no federal equivalencies.
The Senate is trying to change that. This week, they passed the Preventing Child Sex Abuse Act which would revise language in a current federal law to strengthen it and allow perpetrators like Nassar to be tried and convicted in federal court. The bill now goes to the House.
Bills To Support Veterans
This week, the House passed a slate of bills that protect veterans, their families, and their rights. Legislation included:
H.R. 502, which would repay members of the military for certain contributions toward Post-9/11 Educational Assistance.
H.R. 753 VA COST SAVINGS Enhancements Act intends to save money by studying and implementing onsite medical waste at certain veteran's healthcare facilities.
H.R. 815 RELIEVE Act would improve the ability of veterans to get reimbursed for emergency medical costs for care received outside of the VA's system.
H.R. 1226 Wounded Warrior Access Act would allow veterans to better access their service records and submit medical claims electronically.
All of the bills are now headed to the Senate. You know what to do.
Protecting Speech From Government Interference Act
On Thursday, the House passed H.R.140 - Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, which would ban federal officials from censoring speech if the Senate also passes it and the President signs it into law. House Republicans crafted the bill in response to what they have described as the Biden administration's efforts to curtail social media companies from allowing certain topics to be shared online, citing examples from the information on Hunter Biden's laptop to the origins of COVID-19.
Critics are calling it a bill in search of a problem, in that there is no evidence that government officials are currently using their positions to censor private citizens or industry, and that it is redundant, as the first amendment protecting freedom of speech is already in place. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Social Security Fairness Act
Right now, people who have retired after a career in public service, from teachers, to firefighters, to federal employees, can be punished by the federal government because of a legal loophole that allows deductions from their Social Security checks even if they paid into them their whole career, because they are also receiving a government pension.
A bipartisan bill in the House would fix that. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, (D-VA) and Rep. Garrett Graves, (R-LA) reintroduced bill H.R. 82 Social Security Fairness Act that would close the loophole and protect the retirement incomes of seniors and their families. The House has not yet scheduled the bill for a vote.
Congress vs. The D.C. City Council
This week, Congress passed a joint resolution - H.J.Res. 26 - to overturn a bill passed by the D.C. City Council. While President Biden has promised to sign the joint resolution, because of all the back and forth, the D.C. City Council itself is working to withdraw the bill, making Congress' attempt to overturn it moot. The City Council's bill would have both broadened the range and lessened sentencing guidelines for crimes like carjacking.
This process turned into a political hot potato for several reasons. Data shows crime is on the rise in D.C., and the House vote occurred the same day that Rep. Angie Craig, (D-MN) was assaulted in her D.C. apartment building, spooking members. Additionally, miscommunications among Democrats meant that the White House initially signaled they would veto the bill, so House Democrats whipped votes against it. Now many Democrats are furious as they may be positioned as “soft on crime” in upcoming elections.
Why is Congress overturning city council bills? Do they have jurisdiction? Can they do that in my city too? No, unless your city happens to be Washington, D.C., which is a federal city, rather than a state or a city within a state. This is part of the reason why there has been a push for statehood among D.C. residents. D.C.'s official license plates even say “No Taxation Without Representation.” Many residents believe it is unfair that they should pay full federal taxes, but only have a delegate representing their voices in Congress. A delegate can only vote on bills in the committees they sit on; they do not have a vote on legislation that makes it to the House floor. Futhermore, D.C. residents have no representation in the Senate.
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