TikTok Ban On Gov Devices Added To $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill

The bill banning TikTok on government devices that unanimously passed the Senate last week has been included in the controversial $1.7 trillion “omnibus” spending bill for fiscal year 2023 after a push for its inclusion by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

The Tuesday draft of the bill follows the unanimous passage of the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in the Senate last week after it was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).

“Wonders never cease,” Hawley tweeted in response to the addition.

Wonders never cease https://t.co/3S3MxoKaJM

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) December 20, 2022

The U.S. Senate had unanimously passed the TikTok ban on government devices amid growing concerns about the Chinese-based social media app’s threat to national security, with FBI Director Christopher Wray telling lawmakers last month that he is “extremely concerned” about TikTok’s operations in the United States.

“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk to the United States, and until it is forced to sever ties with China completely, it has no place on government devices,” Hawley said in a statement discussing the TikTok ban. “States across the U.S. are banning TikTok on government devices. It’s time for Joe Biden and the Democrats to help do the same.”

The new draft of the omnibus bill comes the day after a group of 13 House Republicans sent a letter to Senate Republicans urging them to oppose its passage.

“Senate Republicans have the 41 votes necessary to stop this and should do so now and show the Americans who elected you that they weren’t wrong in doing so,” the letter said.

The letter referred to the omnibus bill as “an indefensible assault on the American people.”

“It is an assault on the separation of powers,” the letter continued. “It is an assault on fiscal responsibility. It is an assault on basic civic decency. And a vote for any omnibus in the remaining days of a Democrat led government is a vote in favor of that assault.  As such, we urge you to oppose this bill completely and to refrain from entertaining any spending bill that  extends beyond the first few months of the 118th Congress.”

The group warned near the end of the letter, “we are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill – including the Republican leader. We will oppose any rule, any consent request, suspension voice vote, or roll call vote of any such Senate bill, and will otherwise do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts of those senators.”