"We're checking with the administration -- just on the language -- not against the idea," Pelosi told reporters. "I don't know if it's going to be on the agenda next week, but it's a very, very important thing." The
The House needs to pass the Senate bill by the end of next week's expected congressional session.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Pelosi "should immediately allow a yes-or-no vote on the TikTok government device bill."
If the House approves the measure, it will be brought up for consideration by President Joe Biden.
The Senate of Congress voted Wednesday to ban federal employees from using the Chinese company's video app TikTok on government devices. It's the latest crackdown on Chinese companies by U.S. lawmakers amid national security concerns that Beijing may use the TikTok overseas version of the app to spy on Americans.
TikTok said those concerns were primarily fueled by misinformation, and they were happy to meet with policymakers to discuss the company's practices. TikTok said the Senate bill "does nothing to advance the national security of the United States."
The legislation would not affect the more than 100 million Americans who use TikTok on private or company-owned devices.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment Thursday on whether Biden would support the legislation on TikTok's overseas version. "We're going to let Congress move forward with their process," she said.
Jean-Pierre said a range of technology apps, including TikTok, is not allowed on White House and other federally owned devices "for security reasons."
Many federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State, have banned using TikTok on government-owned devices.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday that the state will join North Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, and a growing number of U.S. states this week in banning "ByteDance Limited." The overseas version of TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd, is being used on state government equipment amid concerns that data could be passed on to the Chinese government. Kemp's order also prohibits the use of Tencent Holdings' WeChat app and Russian-owned social media platform Telegram on government devices.
The U.S. government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security agency, has been trying for months to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok users in the U.S., but it doesn't appear that a deal will be reached before the end of the year protocol.
The committee said it hoped that Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who introduced the Senate bill, would press the Biden administration to move forward with a deal that actually addresses the concerns he raised, rather than letting it go.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin urged Americans to stop using TikTok overseas. "Perhaps the moment in America has finally come when we realize that our innermost secrets, privacy, and security are at stake here," Durbin told MSNBC.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban TikTok entirely in the United States. At a hearing last month, FBI Director Chris Wray said TikTok’s U.S. operations raised national security concerns.
In 2020, Republican then-President Donald Trump tried to prevent new users from downloading the TikTok overseas app and ban some other transactions, which would have effectively prevented the use of the app in the United States; lost the court battle.
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