[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5160-S5161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT AND CHILDREN AND TEENS' ONLINE PRIVACY 
                             PROTECTION ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now on KOSA-COPPA, when you are a parent, there is no 
greater pain imaginable than the pain of losing a child--in my case, I 
might say a grandchild as well. We all think of it almost every day 
when we have kids, when we have grandkids: What if they are gone? How 
would we even go forward?
  My kids are now adults and have kids of their own. But I remember 
when they were little, nothing mattered more to me than keeping them 
safe. As parents, that is what we want to do--keep our kids safe as 
much as we can, to shield them from the harms they are too young to 
handle, and to ensure we as a country guard against those who would 
prey or exploit or otherwise harm our loved ones. I feel this way as 
strongly as ever as a grandparent when I think of my three beautiful 
grandchildren: Noah, who is age 5; Eleanor, who is age 2; and Henry, 
who is age 1.
  Unlike decades past, ensuring our kids' safety today means ensuring 
their online safety, to protect kids from online bullying and 
exploitation and other risks to their mental health.
  Social media has helped hundreds of millions of people to connect in 
new ways over the last two decades, but there are also new and 
sometimes serious health risks that come along with those benefits. We 
cannot set these risks aside. On this issue, we desperately need to 
catch up.
  So this week, I am proud to say the Senate will vote on kids' online 
safety. For the information of Senators, I am announcing that this 
week, the Senate will take up two bipartisan bills to protect our kids 
while they use the internet--the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and 
the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. Today, 
I will move to lay a message before the Senate that I intend to use as 
a vehicle for the substance of those two bills. Members should prepare 
for a cloture vote on the message as soon as Thursday.
  Passing kids' online safety, Mr. President, as we all know, as you

[[Page S5161]]

know, has been months in the making. This has been a long and bumpy 
road, but one thing I always knew for sure was that it would be worth 
it. I worked closely with Members on both sides of the aisle to get the 
bills ready for the floor--Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, Markey 
and Cassidy, and so many others. I made sure that Members on both sides 
had plenty of time to offer their input, work through disagreements, 
and arrive at a consensus. Now, after months of hard work, the moment 
to act has arrived, and the Senate should pass these bills swiftly.
  Nothing has galvanized me and so many others of us here in the Senate 
more to act on kids' online safety than meeting with parents who lost 
loved ones. Over the past month, I met with many parents from New York 
and from around the country whose kids took their own lives because of 
what happened to them on social media. Some of these kids were bullied. 
Others were targeted by predators or had their personal, private 
information stolen. Practically all of them suffered deep mental health 
anguish in some way and felt like they had nowhere to turn. And in far 
too many cases, their suffering ended in tragedy, as they took their 
own lives.
  I can't comprehend the pain these parents have felt. No one would 
fault them if they hid away, if they mourned their children away from 
the spotlight and processed their grief in private. But the parents I 
have met are amazing. They have done the opposite. Instead of 
retreating into darkness, they lit a candle. They worked doggedly to 
ensure other parents don't have to endure the pain they did.
  I was just talking to one of the New York parents who was here. That 
is what she said. It so touched me: I want to make sure what happened 
to my child doesn't happen to others.
  These parents made their children's memory into a blessing--a 
blessing that now bears fruit in the form of legislation that will 
prevent other kids from meeting the same terrible fate.
  So, for me, this effort is personal. To every Senator who has been a 
parent, it is personal. When I talk to parents who lost their children, 
see the pictures of their kids, I think of my kids when they were 
little, and I think of my grandchildren today. The loss shatters your 
heart. I think to myself, if we could get these bills done, it would do 
so much good for millions of families across the country.
  We are going to get this done.
  We are going to get this done.
  I thank the Senators who labored tirelessly on these bills, 
especially Blumenthal and Blackburn for their work on KOSA, Markey and 
Cassidy for COPPA, and Chair Cantwell for her excellent leadership on 
the Commerce Committee. I look forward to voting on advancing KOSA and 
COPPA here on the floor later this week.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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