Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Tomorrow’s Vote To Advance Kids’ Online Safety Legislation

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the upcoming vote on cloture on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children’s and Teens Online Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Tomorrow, the Senate will get the chance to take a major step forward on ensuring our kids’ safety.

We will hold a cloture vote on a measure that contains two resoundingly bipartisan bills – the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children’s and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

Both of these bills have been around since last Congress. Both have gone through the Senate Commerce Committee without opposition. But there have been many roadblocks to both KOSA and COPPA, and the parents who’ve been pushing and pushing and pushing for kids online safety are fed up with the delay.

But I believe this time will be different. This time, I am very hopeful that we can pass these bills through the chamber. I’ve worked closely with members on both sides to get these bills ready for the floor.

I made sure members had plenty of time to offer their input, work through disagreements, and arrive at a consensus. Now, the moment to act has arrived. We’re going to get our chance to take the next big step tomorrow.

I’ve had many difficult meetings with constituents as a member of this body, but few, few have been as heart wrenching as the meetings I’ve had with the parents of kids who took their own lives because of what happened to them on social media. I met with one parent from New York yesterday whose child suffered this terrible fate – she’s lost her child forever. And I’ve met many others back home and across the country who are in a similar situation.

Some of the parents told me about how their kids were relentlessly bullied online. Others told me about how their kids were targeted by predators or duped into buying deadly drugs. Virtually all the parents shared their stories about the intense mental anguish their kids suffered.

When I talked to the parents who lost their children, and I saw the pictures of their kids they were holding up yesterday – I’ve seen those pictures before – I think of my kids when they were little. I think of my grandkids today. What if one of them goes online and loses their life? God forbid. The loss shatters your heart, and I think to myself that if we could get these bills done, it would do so much good for millions of families across the country. Tomorrow is the day we must act.

So, I want to thank so many of the senators who have labored tirelessly on these bills. I especially want to thank Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn for their work on KOSA, as well as Senators Markey and Cassidy for their work on COPPA.

I also wish to thank Chair Cantwell for her excellent leadership on the Commerce Committee. I look forward to voting on advancing KOSA/COPPA here on the floor later this week.

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