House GOP pushes ahead with TikTok bill despite Trump opposition

By Melanie Zanona and Haley Talbot, CNN

(CNN) — House Republicans are pressing ahead with a Wednesday floor vote on legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States unless it part ways with its Chinese parent company, even as former President Donald Trump has signaled some uneasiness over the legislation.

House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers expressed confidence the measure would pass and downplayed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s opposition, noting he previously supported the idea of cracking down on the app.

“This is in alignment with what Donald Trump attempted to do when he was president. And he recognized that TikTok was a national security threat, and we are proceeding, because that threat continues today,” she said. “I’m just encouraging him to look at the bill.”

Still, there’s been a behind-the-scenes effort by bill supporters to launch a counter-campaign in response to TikTok’s lobbying blitz against the legislation. That includes scheduling a classified briefing for all House members at 1 p.m. Tuesday about the app’s potential national security threat.

McMorris Rodgers also gave a briefing on the bill during a House GOP whip meeting on Monday night, though leadership is not formally whipping the bill, which will come up under suspension of the rules – an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

“Members have an opportunity to get this classified briefing from Department of Justice and other intelligence agencies around what they see as the threat of apps that are owned by foreign adversaries,” said McMorris Rodgers. “We’re working very hard to answer questions and continue to build support.”

GOP Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, an Energy and Commerce member, added: “If people take advantage of (the briefings), they’ll see things that the former president doesn’t currently have access to.”

Rep. Jeff Duncan, a Freedom Caucus member who also sits on Energy and Commerce, told CNN he’s sought to educate Trump’s camp about what the bill would actually do.

“You know, we’ve reached out to their team to try to explain things… Getting educated on the fact that ByteDance owns TikTok and by ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN. “We’ve had some back and forth with it. Just provide information and not anything contentious at all.”

GOP Rep. Greg Pence of Indiana also said they are working to clear up misconceptions about the bill, which would give ByteDance 165 days to sell TikTok or else it would be banned from US app stores. Bill supporters have also been quick to point out that the bill does not require American ownership, just mandates that a foreign adversary can’t own it.

“I hope the word ‘ban’ gets out of everybody’s vocabulary. This isn’t a bill that bans, and some folks are talking about this is specifically targeted to one company. Nowhere in the bill does it say Tiktok,” Pence told CNN. “So, I think it’s unfortunate. Maybe people don’t really understand the bill.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise expressed confidence the bill will pass in the chamber. The measure’s fate, however, is less certain in the Senate, but Scalise told CNN he’s had conversations with senators who are “interested” in the legislation.

Amid House Republicans’ education efforts, TikTok CEO Shou Chew has been trying to schedule meetings with senators and has been facing headwinds getting some senators to meet at all, a source familiar told CNN. Punchbowl News first reported that Chew was trying to meet with senators.

While many senators told CNN they were still reviewing the legislation Monday night, there is a core group of senators who have expressed support or openness to the House bill.

Asked if there’s any concern about Trump potentially influencing on-the-fence Republicans, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks told CNN she was confident the measure will pass and said: “I would think that we need to keep moving forward.”

She also said TikTok’s campaign encouraging users to call members of Congress backfired.

The Iowa Republican said they fielded a flood of calls from “young people calling in and people who, number one, some didn’t even know what Congress was or why they were calling. But it also shows you … how they proceeded to try to get people engaged in order to advocate for preserving the current structure.”

GOP Rep. Chip Roy pushed back against Trump over his flip-flopping stance on the app.

“He’s wrong,” Roy, a House Freedom Caucus member, told CNN. “I mean, it’s not the first or last time that I’ll disagree with the former president. The TikTok issue is pretty straightforward, it’s not even about TikTok. It’s about ensuring we’re protecting the data of the American people.”

The Texas Republican continued: “We know what’s happening with Tik Tok and the Chinese Communist Party’s control of that, so we should address it. This bill is a good faith effort to do that without targeting them specifically.”

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good said he is still evaluating the TikTok legislation but said he’s leaning voting in “favor” of it. He also said Trump’s position has no impact on his decision.

But at least one member said the former president could potentially sway them: Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, a staunch Trump ally, said he is against the app and its ties to China, but is still undecided on the bill – in part because he wants to hear out Trump first.

“I’ll have to have a conversation with him. See what his thought process is,” Nehls said.

CNN’s Sam Fossum, Manu Raju and Lauren Fox contributed to this report.

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