Republican Chairman Expects House to Take Up Kids Bills

House Republicans want to get “everything in place” first, but they expect movement, he said during a House Commerce Subcommittee hearing focused on children’s online safety. “We’re going to have a bill this year that’s going to pass as soon as we can get everything together that we need to do,” he said.

Ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., was skeptical, noting House Republicans’ “refusal” to take up the committee-passed KOSA and Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) in 2024. “Let’s not kid the people here to suggest these bills are going to become law,” he said. Pallone criticized Republicans for their “silence” after President Donald Trump fired FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya and the impact it will have on agency enforcement, particularly when it comes to protecting children. Pallone said he expects courts to reinstate Slaughter and Bedoya, as federal judges have so far “overturned almost everything Trump has done.”

Democrats repeatedly circled back on the FTC firings in questions with Slaughter, who testified Wednesday. Updating children’s privacy rules is one of the agenda items that could be “in peril” under the Trump administration, she said. Chairman Andrew Ferguson told us Tuesday his majority is moving forward with its own version of a final COPPA rule (see 2503250051). Slaughter said her minority vote wouldn’t impact outcomes under a Republican majority, but a minority presence on the commission is needed to provide transparency. She believes federal courts will reverse the firings and “vindicate our right to do our jobs.”

Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said he’s “eager” to move forward with KOSA, a bill with age-verification requirements that have drawn privacy-related objections. The House should “hash out” any disagreements with Senate counterparts early in order to pass the bill as quickly as possible, he said.

House Republican leadership in 2024 opposed KOSA, and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he wants to get the “right” bill signed into law (see 2501150064). Subcommittee ranking member Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said members are in “unanimous” agreement about the need to pass something to protect children online. KOSA co-author Cathy Castor, D-Fla., said parents are “dejected” after calls for House passage of KOSA and COPPA 2.0 went unanswered last fall.

Guthrie focused much of his remarks and questions on the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (Take It Down) Act (see 2503130055). Introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the bill has received public support from Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Expect both the Take It Down Act and KOSA to be focal points for the House Commerce Committee, he said.

Groups like Center for Democracy and Technology have suggested lawmakers consider impacts on privacy and access to information before passing “new age assurance methods to access vital online services or applications.” American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have also been vocal about privacy-related concerns on age verification.

App stores can better enforce age restrictions than app developers, said Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif. He voiced support for a bill that would require stores to restrict access based on age. The App Store Accountability Act from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. John James, R-Mich., needs work, but parents should have the ability to stop children from downloading certain apps, said Obernolte. Lawmakers should be careful about granting a private right of action, which is included in the bill, because empowering the FTC or state attorneys general is a better option, he said.