4/17/24: Banning TikTok – H.R. 7521 – Letter to Each Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce Science & Transportation

[johnkarls]

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Here is a sample of the letters that were sent to each member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation --

RL-m419-LetterToSenateCommerceCommitteeMembersReTikTokProhibition.pdf

(119.39 KiB) Downloaded 340 times

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USPS Certified-Mail Tracking Numbers


***************
Majority Members


Sen. Maria Cantwell (Chair)
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 24

Sen. Amy Klobuchar
425 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 16

Sen. Brian Schatz
722 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 31

Sen. Ed Markey
255 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 23

Sen. Gary Peters
724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 48

Sen. Tammy Baldwin
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 55

Sen. Tammy Duckworth
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 62

Sen. Jon Tester
311 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 79

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema
317 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 86

Sen. Jacky Rosen
713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6250 93

Sen. Ben Ray Luján
498 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 78

Sen. John Hickenlooper
374 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 85

Sen. Raphael Warnock
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 92

Sen. Peter Welch
124 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 08


***************
Minority Members


Sen. Ted Cruz (Ranking Member)
167 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 15

Sen. John Thune
511 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 30

Sen. Roger Wicker
425 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 22

Sen. Deb Fischer
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 39

Sen. Jerry Moran
521 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 47

Sen. Dan Sullivan
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 09

Sen. Marsha Blackburn
357 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 54

Sen. Todd Young
185 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6251 61

Sen. Ted Budd
304 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 46

Sen. Eric Schmitt
387 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 53

Sen. J. D. Vance
288 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 60

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
170 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 77

Sen. Cynthia Lummis
127A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
USPS Tracking No. = 9589 0710 5270 0279 6252 84

[johnkarls]

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Many of our 58 campaigns over our 19 years of existence have been effective – some surprisingly. But this may have been the quickest and most dramatic --

(1) Every few years, our website's viewers-online-simultaneously shoots over 400 (it's usually on the order of 40-50 day or night).

(2) Our TikTok letters were sent USPS Certified to the 27 members of the Senate Commerce Committee Fri morning.

(3) A downloadable text of a sample letter and the 27 USPS tracking numbers were posted on our website Fri morning --

[Please see viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2501&sid=704d51a07 ... e311558533

and

viewforum.php?f=798&sid=704d51a07a30451 ... e311558533).]

(4) Our website had well over 400 simultaneously-on-line viewers continuously from mid-afternoon until late evening on Fri - topping out at 439 at 10:03 pm EDT per the info tabulated by the software at the bottom of the first page of our website.

(5) On Sat, the House of Representatives passed their new gov-funding bill and adjourned for a week.

(6) The bill included AS A SINGLE PACKAGE Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, etc., AND THE TIKTOK BAN!!!

(7) The Senate which is still in session next week will "fast track" it beginning Tuesday and President Biden has announced he will sign it.

One might be tempted to think this is only circumstantial evidence, but any court of law routinely accepts circumstantial evidence.

*****
There follows the Associated Press description of what happened.

HOWEVER, the text of the SINGLE PACKAGE being sent to the Senate does not appear to be available yet, so it is only possible to presume that the text of H.R. 7521 was included in the SINGLE PACKAGE ver batim.

FYI, there were separate votes on each element of the SINGLE PACKAGE before it was glued together for transmission to the Senate – please see the text, action, etc. for –

H.R. 8034 (Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act) at https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-con ... /8034/text;

H.R. 8035 (Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act) at https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-con ... -bill/8035;

H.R. 8036 (Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act) at https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-con ... -bill/8036.

And yes, it seems weird that the Congressional website does not have the text, etc., of the FINAL SINGLE PACKAGE that includes all three plus the TikTok ban.

[Perhaps Speaker Johnson took pity on staffers who had already worked long-and-hard on a Saturday when, since the Senate won’t be back until Tuesday (the House will be out all week), the staffers can complete their work on Monday.]

[BTW, my apology to the staffers if they did indeed complete their work yesterday, but a thorough Google search was unable to unearth the text of the FINAL SINGLE PACKAGE.]

Final BTW – our non-partisan public-policy study/action group has taken many positions on Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan --

Inputting “Ukraine” in the primitive search box in the upper-right-hand corner of each page of our website currently produces 93 hits,

Doing the same with “Taiwan” currently produces 26 hits, and

Doing the same with “Israel” produces a message that the number of hits is too large to list.


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https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-aid- ... 491d1d94ba


The House passes billions in aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle. Next is the Senate
By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO
Updated 8:05 AM MDT, April 21, 2024


WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare weekend session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.

With an overwhelming vote Saturday, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes, a strong showing as American lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.

Aid to Israel and the other allies also won approval by healthy margins, as did a measure to clamp down on the popular platform TikTok, with unique coalitions forming to push the separate bills forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

“We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said a weary Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who risked his own job to marshal the package to passage.

Biden spoke separately with Johnson and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to thank them for “putting our national security first” by advancing the legislation, the White House said.

“I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs,” the president said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said he was “grateful” to both parties in the House and “personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Thank you, America!” he said.

The scene in Congress was a striking display of action after months of dysfunction and stalemate fueled by Republicans, who hold the majority but are deeply split over foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine. Johnson relied on Democrats to ensure the military and humanitarian funding — the first major package for Ukraine since December 2022 — won approval.

The morning opened with a somber and serious debate and an unusual sense of purpose as Republican and Democratic leaders united to urge quick approval, saying that would ensure the United States supported its allies and remained a leader on the world stage. The House’s visitor galleries were crowded with onlookers.

“The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Passage through the House cleared away the biggest hurdle to Biden’s funding request, first made in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low.

The GOP-controlled House struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance for Ukraine be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico border, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.

Reaching an endgame has been an excruciating lift for Johnson that has tested both his resolve and his support among Republicans, with a small but growing number now openly urging his removal from the speaker’s office. Yet congressional leaders cast the votes as a turning point in history — an urgent sacrifice as U.S. allies are beleaguered by wars and threats from continental Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.

“Sometimes when you are living history, as we are today, you don’t understand the significance of the actions of the votes that we make on this House floor, of the effect that it will have down the road,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a historic moment.”

Opponents, particularly the hard-right Republicans from Johnson’s majority, argued that the U.S. should focus on the home front, addressing domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt load, and they warned against spending more money, which largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.

Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Zelenskyy to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies.

At stake has been one of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities — halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. After engaging in quiet talks with Johnson, the president quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan, paving the way for Democrats to give their rare support to clear the procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.

“We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” Jeffries said during the debate.

While aid for Ukraine failed to win a majority of Republicans, several dozen progressive Democrats voted against the bill aiding Israel as they demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians. A group of roughly 20 hard-right Republicans voted against every portion of the aid package, including for allies like Israel and Taiwan that have traditionally enjoyed support from the GOP.

Some Republicans also angrily objected to their counterparts waving Ukrainian flags during the vote. Rep. Kat Cammack, a Florida Republican, said on X she was “infuriated” by the display and was working on legislation to prohibit the flags of foreign nations on the House floor.

At the same time, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has loomed large over the fight, weighing in from afar via social media statements and direct phone calls with lawmakers as he tilts the GOP to a more isolationist stance with his “America First” brand of politics.

Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, a majority of Republicans opposed further aid. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., offered an amendment to zero out the money, but it was rejected.

The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills did not include border security measures.

Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside.

The package included several Republican priorities that Democrats endorsed, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and legislation to require the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States.

Still, the all-out push to get the bills through Congress is a reflection not only of politics, but realities on the ground in Ukraine. Top lawmakers on national security committees, who are privy to classified briefings, have grown gravely concerned about the tide of the war as Russia pummels Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the Senate would begin procedural votes on the package Tuesday, saying, “Our allies across the world have been waiting for this moment.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, as he prepared to overcome objections from his right flank next week, said, “The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate’s turn to make history.”

[johnkarls]

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This “kettle of fish” appears to be unprecedented!!!

According to the U.S. House of Representatives website (https://www.house.gov/), the House last Saturday IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER –

(1) Passed H.R. 8034 (Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act).
(2) Passed H.R. 8035 (Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act).
(3) Rejected a motion to recommit H.R. 8035.
(4) Rejected separately three amendments to H.R. 8035.
(5) Passed H.R. 8036 (Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act) – i.e. the Taiwan bill.
(6) Passed H.R. 8038 (21st Century Peace through Strength Act).
(7) Passed an Amendment to H.R. 8038.
(8) Rejected H.R. 3602 (End the Border Catastrophe Act) i.e. the U.S. Southern Border.

So what is unprecedented about this???

Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has released the text of the final bill – which is widely reported to contain AS A SINGLE PACKAGE the Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and TikTok bills FOR A SINGLE UP-OR-DOWN SENATE VOTE ON THE ENTIRE PACKAGE.

It appears from the foregoing sequential list of House actions, that H.R. 8038 (21st Century Peace through Strength Act) is that SINGLE PACKAGE.

HOWEVER, the official House of Representatives website STILL SHOWS THE APRIL 17 VERSION of H.R. 8038 – long before its provisions were gutted to be replaced by the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan/TikTok provisions on April 20 as recorded above – please see https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-con ... /8038/text.

AND THE OFFICIAL SENATE WEBSITE (https://www.senate.gov/) still at this moment says today’s (Tuesday April 23) floor proceedings – which are widely reported in the media (and trumpeted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer) to be considering the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan/TikTok bill –

“Floor Proceedings - Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024
“10:00 a.m.: Convene and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R.3935, Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act.”

In other words, no mention of the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan/TikTok bill implying that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is a liar.

BTW, I have just finished calling both the local and Washington DC offices of each of my U.S. Senators to see if either of them has a text of the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan/TikTok bill that both are supposedly considering at this moment – and was asked by the automated systems of all four offices to leave a voicemail.

Speculation???

The Senators probably do each have access to the text.

Which means that every lobbyist also has access to the text.

But since the House is out this week and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised, and President Biden has requested, passage this week, it doesn’t appear likely that the Senate will make any changes despite what the lobbyists might want.

It is respectfully suggested that even Yul Brynner, if he were still alive, would sing “It’s a Puzzlement”!!!

For anyone who isn’t 82, that’s a reference to the Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway Musical “The King and I” which premiered 3/29/51 and ran for nearly 3 years after winning all the Tony Awards – and then was made into the immortal 1956 movie which was nominated for 9 Oscars of which it won 5 including Best Actor for Yul Brynner.