Philip Wallach explains how one recent issue could help Congress find its way toward more productive work.
Expectations for the 118th House of Representatives were the opposite of great. Given the fever pitch of partisan rancor and divided control of the House and Senate, the most anyone dared hope for was that Congress could find a way to keep the lights on. …
… But the biggest surprise was that the supplemental also contained the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act—the TikTok divestment law. This was not a must-pass measure, nor was it engineered by top partisan leaders. Instead, it is the rare case in which lawmakers ran toward a difficult issue and shouldered responsibility, even knowing that they would face a well-orchestrated backlash. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in TikTok’s legal challenge to the law on September 16, but any final legal resolution will take some time. So it’s worth asking: How did Congress move the ball forward on an issue of genuine consequence—and is there a way to replicate the success? …
… Algorithms manipulating our attention for profit raise important concerns. Algorithms manipulating our—and our children’s—attention on behalf of our most significant geopolitical foe sounds positively nightmarish. The app seems even more menacing when we add concerns about its ability to collect and transmit to the CCP data on each of its users’ movements and behavior. Complacency would be reckless, and even watchful waiting seems naïve, given the difficulty of detecting malign influence or data operations in real time. …
… By creating a bipartisan committee focusing on staff work, the House prioritized relationship and coalition-building. By putting to work a committee with no jurisdiction of its own, the House invested in shaping the political narrative around China, not only for public consumption but also to persuade members themselves.
