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{"id":24899,"date":"2026-06-26T23:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/key-democrats-urge-house-to-reject-kids-safety-proposal\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:32:19","slug":"key-democrats-urge-house-to-reject-kids-safety-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/key-democrats-urge-house-to-reject-kids-safety-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Democrats urge House to reject kids&#8217; safety proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Commerce Committee\u2019s top Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/congress\/member\/a8afdbf7-9e04-4415-b655-91f27d7fa210\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Maria Cantwell<\/u><\/a> (Wash.) and Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/congress\/member\/e764fed4-ea30-43b9-8901-bb44d2a7d4d4\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Richard Blumenthal<\/u><\/a> (D-Conn.) warned House lawmakers against advancing their <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/06\/guthrie-and-pallone-cement-deal-for-kids-online-safety-package-00969686\" target=\"_blank\"><u>chamber\u2019s version of the Kids Online Safety Act<\/u><\/a>, arguing it would face intense lobbying from tech companies in the Senate and risk unraveling years of bipartisan work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it is passed by the House it will come to the Senate,&#8221; Blumenthal, the bill\u2019s Senate cosponsor, told reporters at a Friday press briefing. The Connecticut Democrat said he is concerned senators will be influenced by the tech industry\u2019s \u201carmies of lawyers and lobbyists\u201d who may \u201cconfuse and exploit\u201d misunderstandings about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/22\/house-kids-safety-deal-complicates-ai-talks-00971213\" target=\"_blank\"><u>a House bill with the same name as a Senate version<\/u><\/a> but excludes key provisions, such as the \u201cduty of care.\u201d (This concept requires online companies to design social media platforms with an eye for children\u2019s safety.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re not going to let bad legislation with a good title just get across and think somebody&#8217;s done something,\u201d Cantwell said.<\/p>\n<p>The House version of KOSA \u2014 which is included in <a href=\"https:\/\/legislation.politicopro.com\/bill\/US_119_HR_7757\" target=\"_blank\"><u>the KIDS Act<\/u><\/a>, a revised bipartisan package that the Energy and Commerce Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/03\/05\/congress\/republican-kids-safety-and-privacy-proposals-advance-in-house-00814156\" target=\"_blank\"><u>advanced along party lines in March<\/u><\/a> \u2014 is scheduled to be<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/floor\/Default.aspx?date=2026-06-29\" target=\"_blank\"><u> considered on the House floor<\/u><\/a> next week under suspension of the rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to stop this bill in the House, and we need to prevent the White House from forming an alliance with Big Tech on this issue,\u201d said Blumenthal, who characterized the version of KOSA that House leadership is pushing as a \u201csham.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Democratic lawmakers also expressed concern that Senate Commerce Committee Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/congress\/member\/9c10f49c-c99d-46b3-854b-28db18856420\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Ted Cruz <\/u><\/a>(R-Texas) could adopt the House version of KOSA in a kids\u2019 safety package he has yet to publicly release but has pledged to markup by August recess. Cruz said \u201cnegotiations are ongoing\u201d earlier this week when asked by Blue Light News whether he would be open to incorporating such changes put forward in the House.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/06\/ted-cruz-ai-regulations-trump-00975491\" target=\"_blank\"><u>package is expected to include<\/u><\/a> KOSA as well legislation barring companies from using minors\u2019 personal data for targeted advertising, banning kids under age 13 from social media, and providing greater oversight for how children interact with AI chatbots.<\/p>\n<p>Although Blumenthal remains hopeful that Cruz will \u201cstay true to his first vote in favor of KOSA,\u201d which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commerce.senate.gov\/press\/dem\/release\/cantwell-blumenthal-parents-raise-the-alarm-about-weak-kids-act-heading-to-house-vote-next-week\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>overwhelmingly passed in the Senate<\/u><\/a> last Congress, the Connecticut Democrat said Friday he\u2019s worried Cruz and others may be tempted to \u201ctake the bait\u201d and abandon the bill\u2019s basic principles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Commerce Committee\u2019s top Democrat Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned House lawmakers against advancing their chamber\u2019s version of the Kids Online Safety Act, arguing it would face intense lobbying from tech companies in the Senate and risk unraveling years of bipartisan work. \u201cIf it is passed by the House it will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}