Dem
51
GOP
49
Last month, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would block TikTok in the U.S. unless the owner, ByteDance, sold its U.S. operations to an American company. In the past, Microsoft and Oracle have expressed interest in buying it. Now it is up to the Senate to deal with the bill.
An important development in the process is that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) now supports the House bill that would force a sale of TikTok. He called TikTok a "tool of surveillance and propaganda." What isn't known is how much influence McConnell still has with his conference now that he is a self-imposed lame duck. He said he will not run for reelection as party leader in January, no matter which party controls the Senate. Members thus realize that he won't be able to retaliate against them next year if they cross him on the vote.
If Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also gets behind the bill, something he hasn't done yet, there is a strong chance that it could pass Congress. He passed the hot potato to the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), to tweak the House bill as she sees fit. She used to be an executive at a tech company and undoubtedly could easily find out what Microsoft and Oracle would like to see in the bill. Of course, if she delays too much, it will be too close to the election, and getting anything done will be impossible this year.
Joe Biden has said he will sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. But if he does, ByteDance will challenge the law in court, and as usual, the Supreme Court will decide what to do. After all, the Constitution says that the Supreme Court gets to decide all public policy issues. That's why it is called the Supreme Court. (V)