The member briefing, confirmed in an interview by a committee Republican granted anonymity to share details of the upcoming private meeting, comes as GOP members of the panel grapple with how to respond to the president\u2019s latest curveball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know Donald Trump is a negotiator,\u201d Rep. Buddy Carter<\/a> (R-Ga.), a senior Energy and Commerce member who worked on the legislation, said in an interview. \u201cRegardless of whether there was a little or some significant progress, I think he wants the opportunity to try to move it along.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law allows a president to give a 90 day-extension if there is \u201csignificant progress\u201d in divesting from Chinese ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built that into legislation so that if the president wanted to, they could extend it,\u201d said another senior committee member, Rep. Morgan Griffith<\/a> (R-Va.) in an interview. \u201cThey have got to sell or figure something else out.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s less clear is how Trump plans to argue that discussions involving the current owner, ByteDance, met that \u201csignificant progress\u201d benchmark, though China has signaled new openness<\/a> to a deal in recent days. <\/p>\n

Republicans who sit on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee expended significant political capital last year to report out a bill, in a 50-0 vote, to force the wildly popular social media app to either divest from Chinese ownership \u2014 deemed a potential national security risk to the U.S. \u2014 or shutter.<\/p>\n

The legislation was later voted on by the full House, 352-65, before the Senate cleared the legislation as part of a larger government funding package.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court last Friday ruled TikTok had run out of time to find a new buyer, but Trump promised to intervene, on Monday making good on that pledge by giving ByteDance 75 days to find a solution.<\/p>\n

At the time of the high court\u2019s ruling, Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee cheered the news in public statements. They have, however, been quiet since the new president\u2019s intervention. That includes the full committee chair, Rep. Brett Guthrie<\/a> (R-Ky.), and the chair of the Telecommunications and Technology Subcommittee, Rep. Richard Hudson<\/a> (R-N.C.), who is also the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.<\/p>\n

Unlike Republicans, Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee didn\u2019t hold back their frustration in what they saw as having their legislative product undermined.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trump] is circumventing national security legislation,\u201d committee ranking member Frank Pallone<\/a> (D-N.J.) said in a statement. \u201cI do not believe ByteDance has taken any real actions to sell TikTok so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"