Wyden Places Hold on Senate Floor SESTA Action After Commerce Committee Advances Bill
The Senate Commerce Committee cleared the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693) Wednesday on a unanimous voice vote. Momentum toward a floor vote halted later in the day when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., placed a hold. Commerce action on SESTA followed a deal announced Friday on a compromise manager's amendment that tightened definitions of what constitutes a “knowing” violation, and clarifying states could bring civil suits in federal court for violations of federal law. The Internet Association championed the compromise but tech startup group Engine and TechFreedom were among remaining foes (see 1711030067 and 1711060064).
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“I continue to be deeply troubled that [S-1693's] approach will make it harder to catch dangerous criminals, that it will favor big tech companies at the expense of startups and that it will stifle innovation,” Wyden said in a statement. He praised Thune and House Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., for narrowing S-1693's scope but “I've learned that just because a big technology company says something is good, doesn't mean it's good for the internet or innovation.” Wyden testified against S-1693 during a September Senate Commerce hearing (see 1709190065).
Thune had high hopes for momentum. “We're going to try and see if we can get unanimous consent” on the bill, but GOP leaders would need to take it through the hotline process, Thune told reporters after the markup and a subsequent hearing on the Equifax and Yahoo data breaches. He was going to press for the House to adopt S-1693's compromise language rather than continue to pursue House companion Allow State and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865). That legislation “is a much tougher version and I think probably would probably encounter more resistance” from the tech sector, Thune said. Negotiations on the S-1693 compromise language “in the end was able to bridge those differences but it meant getting everybody to the table. And for a while there were people who were reluctant to participate in that conversation, but in the end I think they were convinced that something was going to move and that they'd better get a seat at the table and try and shape it.”
The accord isn't perfect “but it's certainly been vetted a lot and I think has a good chance of moving through the Senate and ultimately through the House,” Thune told reporters. Nelson urged forward movement on S-1693 during markup, saying it would curb “shady and highly profitable website operators” who “know full well” that their services are being used to facilitate sex trafficking. “What is happening to children and women around this country amounts to modern-day slavery,” Nelson said. “Cost of further inaction is simply too high.”
Commerce also voted to advance President Donald Trump's nominees, including NASA Administrator-nominee James Bridenstine and Diana Furchtgott-Roth, nominee for assistant secretary of transportation-research and technology. The committee cleared Bridenstine and Furchtgott-Roth on party-line 14-13 votes. The panel advanced National Transportation Safety Board member nominee Bruce Landsberg and Nazakhtar Nikakhtar, nominee for assistant secretary of commerce-industry and analysis, on voice votes.