Acting in an overwhelmingly bi-partisan manner for the first time in a very long time, the United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to ban the infamous TikTok app, which just a few months ago began demanding iPhone users' passwords and is controlled entirely by the Chinese Communist Party! According to the language in the bill, TikTok COULD still be saved, but it would have to be sold to a company not loyal to China. Even better, President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk. There's just one problem: The US Senate.

The bill will now go before the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican vice-chairman, was among the very first in Washington, D.C. calling for the national ban on TikTok (along with former Vice President Mike Pence). He will likely be able to get most, if not all of the Republican members on board with the House bill as written. Likewise, the Democratic chairman of the select committee, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, was aggressively trying to get TikTok banned in the United States for the same national security reasons. I don't know how many Democrats on the subcommittee he'll be able to rally to the cause, but there is little doubt that the House bill would pass the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence very easily.

The last obstacle is US Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leader of the US Senate. Schumer is notoriously stubborn and typically makes everything under the sun political and contentious. Assuming he's not already on the bankroll of the Chinese Communist Party, I would not be shocked if he tied bringing the TikTok ban to the floor of the Senate to Speaker Mike Johnson bringing Ukraine funding to the floor of the House of Representatives (and probably passing it).

Don't misunderstand me here, I fully support funding Ukraine's battle against Russia as it is in the best interests of the United States (even if the war's continuation is not in the best interests of Ukraine, as Pope Francis said rather indelicately earlier this month). However, Chuck Schumer using Ukraine as leverage over the divided Republicans in the House of Representatives is part of the reason why the public is so disgusted by Congress. Here we have a bill that is supported by an enormous majority in Congress on both sides of the political divide and, instead of making a unifying statement, Schumer would be holding it up for political gain and blaming Republicans the entire time.

Hopefully there are enough Democrats who recognize the security threat posed by TikTok and together are able to convince Schumer that holding up this bill would be too sinister a thing to do.

In the meantime, congratulations are in order for both Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives for doing the right thing and passing this bill!