Full Hearing: Legislation to Protect American Data and National Security from Foreign Adversaries

before I recognize myself and ranking member palone I'd like to address the unusual circumstances of this hearing first it is the custom of the committee and required under the house rules that a hearing will not commence earlier than one week after such hearing is announced however pursuing to Clause 2 g3b of rule 11 of the house rules a hearing may be begin sooner in one of two cases either one the chair and ranking minority member determined that there is good cause or two the committee so determines by a majority vote the good cause exception in recent history the committee has invoked the good cause exception to hold a hearing on short notice just a few times when holding hearings at the start of a a new Congress in these cases Mr plone and I had a discussion on the matter colleagues I've remained and stayed true to our commitment and the good cause exception has not become regular practice during my tenure as chair and it will not become the practice for the duration following a classified briefing last week Mr palone and I have determined that there is a national security interest and good cause to hold this hearing on these bills with shorter notice so that we can maintain regular order before marking up this important legislation later today before we begin opening statements do you have any initial comments Mr pal well I just wanted to thank you uh chair Rogers for your explanation and your commitment to continue with regular order as it pertains to the noticing of committee meeting so thank you okay I now recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement good morning welcome today oh that's s that's not where we are the Chinese Communist Party pose the greatest national security threat to the United States of our time with applications like Tik Tock these countries are able to Target surveil and manipulate Americans protecting Americans data and addressing the serious national security threat posed by the CCP have been my top priorities all Congress this committee and others have been working diligently in a bipartisan manner to deliver solutions to address these critical issues today we take action one year ago this month the CEO of Tik Tok tested IFI before this committee to answer for the threat his company poses to America's national security during the hearing he was asked several times if bite dance uses information it collects from Tik Tock users to spy on Americans his response was and I quote I wouldn't describe it as spying Tik Tok has repeatedly been caught lying about its connection to bite dance as well as the level of access the CCP has to our data which they are using to weaponize our freedoms against us that ends now Tik tok's access to 170 million American users makes it a valuable propaganda tool for the CCP to exploit and use for nefarious purposes through this access the app is able to collect nearly EV every data point imaginable from people's location to what they search for on their devices to who they're connecting with and other forms of sensitive information the app's trackers are embedded in sites across the web so even if someone has never been on Tik Tok their personal information is at risk of being collected and abused Tik tok's parent company bite dance is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice for surve veiling on American journalist and that's just one example it gets much worse while Tik Tok Tik Tok may not may be the most well-known application subject to the CCP it is certainly not the only one others like lemon 8 and cap cut are also subject to the ccp's influence through bite dance that is why today we are discussing legislation that will prevent apps controlled by Foreign adversaries from targeting surveilling and manipulating the American people I commend members of the select committee on the Chinese Communist party in particular chairman Mike Gallagher and ranking member Raja Chris Chris morthy for their partnership on this legislation to address the immediate threat that bite dance ownership of Tik Tock poses and I look forward to quickly advancing this bill to the Full House this is a targeted approach to prohibit access to an application owned by a foreign adversary that poses a a clear threat to US National Security additionally we will be discussing legislation to prevent data Brokers from sharing American sensitive information with foreign adversaries and the companies they control we know that dat data Brokers sell our sensitive information to the highest bidder and I am appreciative of ranking member palone bringing this legislation forward so that we may establish clear prohibitions on the sale of location and health information to our adversaries this is an important step in our continued efforts to establish comprehensive data privacy in order to effectively crack down on abuses of our personal information companies controlled by a foreign adversary like the CCP will never Embrace American values virtues of our society and culture like freedom of speech human rights the rule of law a free press and others our adversaries choose to rule through fear and control if given the choice they will always choose the path for more control more surveillance and more manipulation apps like Tick Tock lemon8 and cap cut are spying by Design they have to it is required by law in China this foreign interference and manipulation is not welcome here the threats posed by Tik Tok are real which is why today we will be hearing from the National Intelligence Community about the threats and how this legislation will neutralize them I look forward to our discussion today and I yield to my colleague ranking member Frank palone thank you madam chair today the committee will consider two bills HR 7520 and HR 7521 that are in intended to protect the public from foreign adversaries big Tech has transformed the information Super Highway into a super spreader of harmful content invasive surveillance practices and addictive and damaging design features foreign adversaries understand this and see access to Americans data Communications networks devices and applications as the entry points to disrupt our daily lives and conduct Espionage activities and we have seen too often Bad actors use using communication tools to launch cyber attacks they've pushed disinformation and propaganda campaigns in the United States in an attempt to undermine our democracy and gain worldwide influence and control and this is all a detriment of our national security interests and then there are the data brokers who collect and sell vast amounts of America's most sensitive personal information for profit right now there are no restrictions on who they can sell this information to it may be about members of our nation's military and our children or it may be information about where we go how we spend our money and the websites we visit and this information can be purchased by anyone including foreign adversary governments most Americans are unaware that data Brokers compile dosier about their interests beliefs actions and movements and Americans are powerless to stop this invasion of their privacy while the answer to this problem is comprehensive National Data privacy protections I firmly believe that we must do what we can now to safeguard Americans personal data while we work to advance privacy legislation so I'm pleased that today we will consider HR 7520 the protecting Americans data from foreign adversaries act which chair Rogers and I introduced this week it will address this National Security vulnerability by pre preventing data Brokers from selling sensitive personal information of Americans to our foreign adversaries and we will also consider HR 7521 the protecting Americans from foreign adversary controlled applications act introduced this week by by Representatives Christa morthy and Gallagher this bill sets forth a process to incentivize the divesture of Tik Tock and other applications from the operation and control of foreign adversary governments like the People's Republic of China and Russia social media companies effectively are modern-day media companies and we must treat them that way this includes examining the foreign investments in these companies now the communications act requires the FCC to undertake such an examination for our country's tele ision and radio broadcast licenses Congress placed this requirement on you on us broadcasters to protect National Security interests during wartime to prevent the Airing of foreign propaganda on our country's broadcast stations there is no reason social media companies should be exempt from the scrutiny given Russia China and others actions on social media platforms during our recent elections we know that while the technology has evolved the threat is very much the same the combination of Tik Tock Beijing commun based ownership and the fact that well over 170 million Americans use this application exacerbates as dangerous to our country and our privacy the laws in China allow the Chinese Communist party to compel companies like Tik Tock to share data with them whether the companies want to or not and this means that the CCP has the ability with Tik Tock to compromise device security maliciously access Americans data promote pro-communist propaganda and undermine American interests so I look forward to hearing more today from our intelligence and National Security Community about how this bill can bolster their authorities to take action where it's needed to ensure that our modern-day media Outlets are not subject to the influence of countries that see benefit in the weakening of our country I have serious National Security concerns about Tik Tock and I'm sympathetic to the intent of this legislation but I want to hear from our Witnesses before making a final decision now finally I must express my disappointment in how Rush this process has has has been this committee has worked together on a bipartisan basis on numerous occasions to advance legislation that furthers our national security interests so committee Democrats would have appreciated more notice and time to digest the legislation before before us before it advances to a markup this afternoon there are very complex constitutional concerns implicated by this bill and I think we all would have benefited a more for a more thorough process that results from regular order nevertheless I appreciate that chair Rogers agreed to my request to hold this hearing so members can hear from experts and review the proposals before jumping to a vote later today and so with that Madam chair I yield back the balance of my time thank you Mr palone I now recognize myself to offer a motion pursuant to Clause 2g1 of rule 11 of the rules of the House of Representatives to recess this hearing and reconvene in executive session because disclosure of matters to be considered considered would endanger National Security I move that the committee do now recess and reconvene in executive session based on our determination that the the disclosure of matters need to be considered during this hearing would one endanger National Security and two compromis sensitive law enforcement information the the clerk will call the rule so the motion is before us to uh recess pursuant to Clause 2g1 of rule 11 of the house rules clerk will call the rule Burgess Burg votes I Burgess votes i l i l votes I Guthrie Guthrie votes I Griffith Griffith votes I bakus bakus votes I bushan I bushan votes I Hudson I Hudson votes I Walberg I wallberg votes I Carter I Carter votes I Duncan dun I Duncan votes I Palmer Palmer votes I dun dun votes I Curtis letco leco votes I Pence Pence votes I CAW Joyce Joyce votes I Armstrong Armstrong votes I Weber Weber votes I Allen Allan v i Allen votes I balderson balderson votes I fure I fure votes I fluger fluger votes I harsh Barger harburger votes I Miller Meeks Miller Meeks votes I kamik I kamik votes I oberti overaly votes I palone palone votes I ESU ASU votes I DEET deette votes I chikowski chikowski votes I Matsui Matsui votes I Caster Caster votes I sarbanes sarbanes votes I tonko tonko votes I Clark cardinus Ruiz Ruiz votes I Peters Peters votes I Dingle Dingle votes I vzy vzy votes I kuster kuster votes I Kelly Bagon blood Rochester stto I Soto votes I Craig shrier shrier votes I Tran Fletcher Fletcher votes I chair Rogers chair Rogers votes I Miss Kelly is not recorded Kelly votes I clerk will report the result chair Rogers on that vote we have 43 eyes and zero nose motion is agreed to we will now recess and will reconvene in a classified executive session in 2123 Rayburn ask the members to move to our secure location check in their electronic devices we will reconvene in approximately 15 minutes to continue the hearing and take the witness testimony there the committee stands in recess