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Alternet: New legislation pits Speaker Mike Johnson against some very powerful Republicans: analysis
Alternet - New legislation pits Speaker Mike Johnson against some very powerful Republicans: analysis
Greg Larose, Louisianna Illuminator
December 25, 2024
Editor’s note: This commentary discusses the topic of suicide. If you or someone you know if contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Lost in the furor over whether Congress could agree on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown was another rift over the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which even has some powerful Republicans at odds with one another.
The bill purports to hold social media companies accountable for cyberbullying over their platforms, and its supporters include parents whose children have taken their own lives or were harmed as a result of social media harassment.
The KOSA proposal, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., easily cleared the chamber in a 91-3 vote in late July. Yet it has not advanced to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, and its proponents have turned up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as of late to advance the bill before year’s end. Republicans who’ve rallied behind the bill and urged its passage include Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabeee Sanders.
Yet Johnson has remained steadfast in his decision not to rush the act through in its current form. Pressed by reporters in the Capitol hallways in recent days, the speaker insists he still stands behind the spirit of the proposal. He was asked a week ago if KOSA would be approved before year’s end.
“I don’t see that as being likely at this point,” Johnson said.
/snip
Greg Larose, Louisianna Illuminator
December 25, 2024
Editor’s note: This commentary discusses the topic of suicide. If you or someone you know if contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Lost in the furor over whether Congress could agree on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown was another rift over the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which even has some powerful Republicans at odds with one another.
The bill purports to hold social media companies accountable for cyberbullying over their platforms, and its supporters include parents whose children have taken their own lives or were harmed as a result of social media harassment.
The KOSA proposal, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., easily cleared the chamber in a 91-3 vote in late July. Yet it has not advanced to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, and its proponents have turned up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as of late to advance the bill before year’s end. Republicans who’ve rallied behind the bill and urged its passage include Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabeee Sanders.
Yet Johnson has remained steadfast in his decision not to rush the act through in its current form. Pressed by reporters in the Capitol hallways in recent days, the speaker insists he still stands behind the spirit of the proposal. He was asked a week ago if KOSA would be approved before year’s end.
“I don’t see that as being likely at this point,” Johnson said.
/snip