Schumer Backs 270-Day Extension of TikTok's Looming Divestment Deadline
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voiced support Thursday for extending ByteDance’s Jan. 19 deadline to divest TikTok after Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., unsuccessfully attempted to advance his Extend the TikTok Deadline Act (S-103) delay proposal Wednesday night by unanimous consent. S-103 and House companion HR-391 seek a 270-day extension of the divestment deadline (see 2501140075). “We aren’t against TikTok,” Schumer said on the floor Thursday. “We want TikTok to keep going. But we are against a Chinese company that is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party owning TikTok.” Schumer said TikTok “as it exists today has too many security risks that cannot be ignored,” but it’s “clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built up a good network of followers.” It’s “stunning” that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected to Markey’s bid to move S-103 by UC because “time is running short,” Schumer said: “We will continue to work to find a responsible solution to keeping TikTok going, protect American livelihoods and protect against Chinese Communist Party surveillance. We must and can do all three.”
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Cotton argued Wednesday night that ByteDance and TikTok “had plenty of additional warning ... about the possibility of such action, long before Congress set this firm Sunday deadline.” President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration “in 2020 attempted to shut down TikTok,” so “there was no rush as” Markey claims, Cotton said: “There will be no extensions, no concessions and no compromises for TikTok.” Markey planned writing to President Joe Biden Thursday asking for his intervention, lobbyists told us. White House officials indicated Thursday they don’t think he has the authority to seek a deadline delay. Lobbyists noted Trump is eyeing an executive order to allow TikTok to continue operations until ByteDance finds a new owner. A majority of Supreme Court justices signaled their willingness to uphold the divestment deadline during oral argument last week (see 2501100058), but didn’t rule on the case Wednesday as some had expected. Trump recently has repeatedly defended the app and has asked the Supreme Court to halt the deadline so his incoming administration can reach a “political resolution.”