[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 123 (Monday, July 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               KOSA-COPPA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, before the Senate adjourned last week, 
we took a major step forward to ensure our kids' online safety by 
advancing KOSA-COPPA with strong bipartisan support--a vote of 86 to 1.
  Thanks to both sides working together, the Senate is on track to pass 
KOSA and COPPA tomorrow. These bills are perhaps the most important 
updates in decades to Federal laws that protect kids on the internet 
and a good first step.
  After the Senate passes KOSA and COPPA tomorrow with a strong 
bipartisan vote, the House should do the same when they return in 
September. The bipartisan momentum behind these bills is real, and we 
should seize this opportunity to make a law.
  While social media has many benefits, it also, as we know, has many 
risks. KOSA and COPPA will install guardrails that protect kids from 
these risks.
  Too many kids experience relentless online bullying. Too many kids 
have their personal data collected and then used nefariously. And 
sadly--sadly--too many families have lost kids because of what happened 
to them on social media.
  I have met with many of the families whose children took their own 
lives. We felt the pain of loss together. We have cried together. What 
they have gone through is impossible to imagine--losing a child and in 
this way.
  But these families, to their everlasting credit, instead of cursing 
the darkness, they lit a candle. They turned their grief into grace by 
working so hard to make sure this doesn't happen to other kids, what 
happened to theirs.
  I thank all of the families who advocate to get kids' online safety 
over the finish line. Their efforts will pay off tomorrow.
  I also want to thank colleagues who have relentlessly championed 
these bills: Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, Markey and Cassidy, 
Durbin and Klobuchar, Chair Cantwell, and others.
  Getting to this point wasn't easy; that is for sure. It has been a 
long and winding and difficult road. But after tomorrow, I am very 
proud that it will have all been worth it.