Republicans are still pushing for child safety laws, while Democrats wonder if a weakened FTC can enforce them

Members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee met Wednesday to sermon what’s typically a highly bipartisan topic: protecting kids online. But successful a far-from-typical governmental climate, the temper was tense and confrontational.

Republican lawmakers are anxious to revive a fistful of bipartisan bills similar the Kids Online Safety Act, which House Republican enactment blocked astatine the decorativeness line past year. Many Democrats connected the sheet enactment these proposals, calling them an urgent effect to a societal crisis. But they’re raising a caller question: arsenic the Trump medication ignores legislature statutes and Supreme Court precedent to gut the national government, volition determination beryllium anyone near to enforce these laws?

Last week, President Donald Trump abruptly — and nether existent law, illegally — attempted to occurrence the 2 sitting Democratic commissioners connected the Federal Trade Commission, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. The determination near 2 Republicans connected the commission, with 1 much expected to soon beryllium confirmed. Like galore agencies crossed the national government, the FTC has seen caller unit cuts, though successful far smaller numbers than galore of the astir salient targets of the right. Even successful the number party, Slaughter and Bedoya warn that their removals volition thwart transparency and accountability for immoderate decisions made successful their absence, and they’re readying to writer to instrumentality to their work. Without dissenting voices successful the room, Slaughter and Bedoya person warned, there’s nary 1 to propulsion backmost and exemplify what alternate paths the FTC could person taken, oregon supply important discourse to the agency’s decisions. “I’m going to beryllium adjacent much disquieted astir actions taken to retreat settlements, modify settlements, [and] votes taken to not writer a company,” Bedoya told reporters extracurricular the proceeding room. “If there’s an enactment brought up to the commission, and the commissioners accidental no, that ne'er becomes public.”

“We had successful spot what was needed to support our children,” ranking subordinate of the commerce subcommittee Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said successful her opening remarks. “And that’s wherefore I americium perfectly furious close present that determination has been this effort to occurrence the 2 members of the FTC.” The Democratic number invited Slaughter to attest alongside witnesses invited by Republicans, including representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), National Center connected Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), and Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) — the latter, arsenic 1 Democrat pointed out, contributed to Project 2025. Bedoya, though not formally invited, sat down his workfellow successful the proceeding room. 

Republicans painted the FTC firings arsenic a distraction. “This proceeding is astir children. It’s not astir what’s going connected present successful Washington, DC,” said afloat committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY). When reporters extracurricular the proceeding country asked astir the attempted firings, subcommittee Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) said he’s “focused connected the proceeding today.” Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) apologized to parents successful the assemblage “for the things that are being taken distant from this speech not being focused connected protecting children, but alternatively connected someone’s occupation astatine the FTC.” Houchin complained that a newsman had stopped her successful the hallway to inquire astir the agency. “Shame connected the media if the lone happening they screen from contiguous is the FTC, due to the fact that children are dying,” she said.

But Democrats argued that laws are useless without effectual enforcement, which they judge is nether threat. The FTC would beryllium chiefly successful complaint of enforcing 2 large bills that passed done the House Energy and Commerce Committee past year: KOSA and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) “We tin speech astir the value of passing caller authorities present successful this hearing,” said KOSA co-sponsor Kathy Castor (D-FL). But she questioned however they could regain spot successful Republicans “ if you instrumentality the cops disconnected the beat, you springiness the Big Tech CEOs a beforehand enactment spot to the inauguration, [and] you artifact the KOSA and COPPA that was hammered retired implicit years of enactment successful this committee?”

The questions astir regularisation of instrumentality and who volition enforce it widen acold beyond the FTC. In empowering Elon Musk’s favored project, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump has deputized the richest antheral successful the satellite to slash the national workforce, and question to unopen down agencies created by legislature statute. Trump has asserted powerfulness implicit what are expected to beryllium autarkic agencies, including the FTC, and loyalists he’s appointed to tally them person truthful acold welcomed him to bash so. Many experts accidental we already are oregon soon could beryllium successful a constitutional crisis, arsenic Trump appears consenting to flout everything from a law seeking to prohibition TikTok to court orders.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), ranking subordinate of the afloat committee, adjacent pointed retired that Republicans were the crushed KOSA didn’t walk past year. “Let’s not kid the radical present to suggest that these bills are going to go law,” helium said. “The bottommost enactment is we passed KOSA and we passed COPPA retired of this committee past league and the House Republican enactment refused to bring these laws to the floor. And you cognize why? They’re successful the pouch of Big Tech. And Big Tech does not attraction astatine each astir kids.”

KOSA and COPPA 2.0 some garnered disapproval that, arsenic written, they could infringe connected code and privacy. But this disapproval could widen to virtually immoderate kid information law.

Slaughter echoed Democrats’ sentiment to reporters aft the hearing. “You can’t meaningfully code kids online information successful bills that would empower the FTC to enforce kids online safety, if you don’t speech astir whether the FTC is simply a functional assemblage accordant with the plan of Congress,” she said.