Schumer: Senate Holdouts Blocking Kids’ Bill
Opposition to the Kids Online Safety Act is preventing the bill from passing by unanimous consent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday (see 2312040058). A co-sponsor of the legislation, Schumer said he outlined a plan in May for…
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UC passage of the bill. “I personally helped resolve issues and mitigated unintended consequences of the bill,” he said on the floor. “That effort reduced the opposition, but there are still holdouts.” Schumer said there’s been “real progress” in removing objections to the bill over the course of several weeks. But if “objectors refuse to come to a resolution, we must pursue a different legislative path to get this done,” he said. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., planned to seek UC passage in December before abandoning plans to allow further negotiation. Lead Democratic sponsor Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Thursday said he’s “confident based on my conversations with Leader Schumer we are going to get this bill done.” The bill has 70 co-sponsors. Parents of children who died in social media-related incidents sent a letter to Schumer on Tuesday urging him to “keep his promise” and hold a vote on the bill by Thursday. Schumer noted on the floor that he has been meeting with victims' families. “I have seen their terrible stories, and I am committed, completely committed, to work with them to get KOSA across the finish line.”