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In today’s edition … Pressure mounts on Johnson over Ukraine … China doesn’t like Biden or Trump … but first …

On the Hill

The strange bedfellows opposing the bill that could ban TikTok

The House is set to vote on a bill today that would force ByteDance, the Beijing-based tech giant that owns TikTok, to divest from the app or face a ban in the United States.

China has long said it would block any sale of TikTok, raising the potential of a U.S. ban if the legislation becomes law.

The bill is causing a firestorm on Capitol Hill. But the battle lines of this debate are different from many other policy discussions in Washington, peppered with presidential politics, questions about free speech, the role of government regulation and the power of tech and social media.

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Here’s the state of play:

• ByteDance executives and TikTok users are lobbying lawmakers, urging them to vote against it. 
• A coalition of strange bedfellows on the left and the right is opposed to the bill. 
• Former president Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in 2020 that aimed to restrict TikTok in the United States, now seems opposed to a ban — but he’s also calling the app a national security threat.
• President Biden’s campaign is on TikTok, but Biden has said he’d sign the bill. U.S. national security officials are warning lawmakers that Chinese ownership of TikTok has national security implications. 
• The House is scheduled to vote on the bill today. But even if it passes the chamber, it faces uncertain prospects in the Senate.

Bipartisan opposition

The bill, which will need two-thirds support of the House to pass today, is expected to advance. But the vote is not expected to be unanimous, and dissenters have raised a flurry of concerns, from the quick timeline to free-speech issues.

Two administration officials briefed House members Tuesday about alleged national security threats posed by TikTok. Lawmakers said that briefing was welcome and long overdue. But it didn’t necessarily change minds.

• “Is this the best way to do it?” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said, adding that he's undecided how to vote on the bill today. 

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said he walked into the briefing undecided and with an open mind, but he left unconvinced. He said the briefers’ warnings about the impact of China’s ability to collect data on American TikTok users were “speculative in nature.”

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• “I’m just not convinced, especially now, that there’s anything real to point to. It’s very speculative, and it is a bit Big Brother-ish,” Pocan told us after the meeting. 

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) said the bill isn’t the answer. “Banning TikTok won’t protect Americans from targeted misinformation or misuse of their personal data, which American data brokers routinely sell and share,” she said in a statement to The Early. “This is a blunt instrument for serious concerns, and if enacted, would mark a huge expansion of government power to ban apps in the future.”

An expansion of the government’s ability to intervene in private companies is a concern on the right, too. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) made a similar argument, suggesting the bill gives too much power to the government. 

The left-right mind meld on the issue goes beyond Capitol Hill. The American Conservative Union and the American Civil Liberties Union have both urged Congress to reject the bill, saying it violates the First Amendment’s protections for free speech. 

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• “We’re deeply disappointed that our leaders are once again attempting to trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points during an election year,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, said in a recent statement. 

Those opposed to the bill say better alternatives would be to require that companies protect consumers’ data or regulate social media algorithms. 

TikTok’s defense

TikTok argues that as many as 170 million people use the app in the U.S. each month. The company has long said it doesn’t pose a threat.

“In a letter to members of Congress on Monday, TikTok executive Michael Beckerman said the bill raised ‘serious constitutional concerns’ and was ‘being rushed through at unprecedented speed without even the benefit of a public hearing,’” our colleagues Drew Harwell, Cristiano Lima-Strong, Ellen Nakashima and Jacob Bogage write.

Some lawmakers echo those concerns, questioning why the push now, quickly moving to the House floor. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she hasn’t decided how she’ll vote on the bill but called the timeline “highly suspect.” She said she’s been given no answers by House leadership about why the bill is being put on the floor. And she said there has been little explanation from the U.S. intelligence community to TikTok’s massive user base about the concerns of the app, which includes millions of young people, activists and business owners who could mobilize in an election year. 

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• “So if we’re just learning about this, how can we communicate to our constituents what the reality is,” Ocasio-Cortez said about the national security threats. “If there is a legitimate, sound grounding for supporting a forced sale, we should have the opportunity to be able to talk to people about it.”

Scrutiny of TikTok has increased since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), co-author of the bill, wrote an opinion piece in November saying that the algorithms TikTok pushed on U.S. users promoted anti-Israeli and pro-Hamas content. (TikTok said in November its “recommendation algorithm doesn’t ‘take sides’ and has rigorous measures in place to prevent manipulation.”)

But Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who worked with Gallagher on the bill, argued that it won’t lead to the elimination of TikTok. He pointed to Grindr, the LGBTQ dating app that still exists even after its Chinese owners sold their share when the U.S. government raised national security concerns.

• “I think the question is whether users want to operate on an app that’s controlled by the Chinese Communist Party or not, and the vast majority don’t,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), did not commit yesterday to bringing the bill up for a vote if it passes the House.

Pressure mounts on Johnson over Ukraine

"Pressure is mounting for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to quickly address aiding foreign allies as House Democrats and Republicans mount opposing measures that would supersede House GOP leadership and trigger votes on bills funding Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S. border,” Leigh Ann reports with our colleagues Marianna Sotomayor, Liz Goodwin and Abigail Hauslohner.

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Here’s what’s happening: 

• A Democratic discharge petition, led by Rep. Joe McGovern (D-Mass.) in just one day has amassed 169 Democratic signatures of the 218 needed. It would tack on a national security package the Senate overwhelming approved over a month ago that would allot $95.3 billion to assist Ukraine, Israel and U.S. defenses against China in the Pacific region.
• Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) formally introduced their petition yesterday to gather signatures. Though only 12 bipartisan lawmakers signed onto the measure thus far, the group continues to temperature check with party leaders and colleagues to ultimately draft legislative text with policies a majority of both parties could accept.
• Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said after his meeting with Johnson on Tuesday that “Mr. Johnson’s failure to make a positive decision will cost thousands of lives. He takes personal responsibility for that.”
• Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told us in an interview last week that one option could be to split up the Senate bill and hold individual votes on each significant portion rather than as a unified package, a process hard-right lawmakers have often demanded. But he said it’s up to Johnson. 
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged Johnson to move: “The only way to get relief to the Ukrainians and the Israelis quickly is for the House to figure out how to pass the Senate bill,” McConnell told reporters.
• Schumer agrees: “If you do a new bill, who knows what’ll happen, given the frailty of these issues?” he said. “The best thing to do is put our bill on the floor, let it pass.”

Multiple GOP lawmakers and aides — who like others in the story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations — say that Johnson has not made a decision to tackle supplemental funding and that options remain on the table to parse through. Johnson and his leadership team have promised to address supplemental funding, but not until Congress funds more than half of the government by next Friday.

The campaign

Biden aims to repair places left broken by previous economic strategies

Happening today: Biden is in Milwaukee to “unveil $3.3 billion in federal grants to remove or retrofit highways that separate minority neighborhoods in many cities from jobs, entertainment centers, hospitals and other services,” our colleagues David J. Lynch and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. report.

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• “Biden’s embrace of strategies aimed at spurring development in specific locations marks a significant shift in U.S. policy, part of the broadest government intervention in the economy in at least four decades — and one with significant political overtones. States like Wisconsin are critical to Democratic hopes in November; Biden’s appeal to Milwaukee’s large number of Black voters may decide his fate there.”
• “The administration’s ‘place-based’ approach to economic development has multiple goals. Using a mix of spending and tax credits in three major pieces of legislation, the administration aims to spread prosperity more evenly; rebuild communities devastated by the loss of factory jobs; and prevent blight in areas that otherwise would suffer amid the transition to cleaner energy sources. If it succeeds, the effort could help heal an economic divide that has fueled political resentment and convinced millions of Americans that Washington abandoned them to decay.”
• “But in seeking to focus federal power on reviving downtrodden communities, the president is gambling on a set of policies with a mixed track record. Even its supporters acknowledge that Washington may struggle with the mammoth decades-long effort some distressed areas require.”

At the White House

Biden or Trump? China can’t pick its ‘poison’ to mend strained ties.

“Two bowls of poison”: As the United States barrels toward a high-stakes rematch between Biden and Trump, who both clinched their parties’ nominations Tuesday night, “nearly every Chinese foreign policy expert agrees that neither [candidate] is a great option for Beijing,” our colleagues Christian Shepherd, Lyric Li and Lily Kuo report.

Here’s why: 

• Trump: “Beijing fears that a Trump win on Nov. 5 would result in an all-out trade war — extending the one Trump launched in his first term — and derail its efforts to put a sluggish economy back on track,” our colleagues write.
• Biden: “A Biden reelection, while offering continuity, would come with trade-offs for the Chinese Communist Party’s long-term goals of remolding the international order to its advantage.”

The case for Trump: “For China’s leaders, whether Trump or Biden would better serve Beijing’s interests is a question of tactics: How can Beijing best take on its main rival?” our colleagues write. “Theories of American decay have taken hold among many Chinese nationalists, who are increasingly convinced that China’s time is now.”

• “They are impatient with the American-led world order and often support Trump because they believe his return would undercut Washington’s international standing and create an opening for Beijing to extend its influence into the vacuum left by an inward-turning United States.”
• “These nationalists like to call him ‘chuan jianguo’ — ‘Trump the nation builder’ — where the nation in question is China. For these sarcastic fans, Trump’s trade policies backfired and spurred on Chinese patriotism and efforts to become ‘self-reliant’ in core technologies such as semiconductors.”

The Media

Must reads

From The Post: 

From across the web: 

• We still don’t believe how much things cost. By the Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Wolfe and Rachel Louise.

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