Ranking Member Cantwell Opening Statement at Markup of Kids Online Safety Bills
[VIDEO]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, gave the following opening statement at today’s markup of kids online safety bills:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and sorry to be late to the hearing, but the State of Washington is facing historic fires. In fact, we [have] the highest risk fires in the nation and the highest resource. And we were on a call with the various Ag Secretary, DOI, and many people trying to get a plan for continuing to address the wildfires in Spokane and throughout Washington State. So, again, sorry for being late to this very important hearing.
“I too want to thank Stephanie Lieu for her great service. It was great to give her a pin. I didn’t realize you got like — It almost looks like our little Congressional pin. So I so appreciate her hard work over these many years and her many stories about various chairmen of this Committee, and certainly remembering the various assets and resources that it takes to make this committee function, so want to basically thank Stephanie for that and for her leadership.
“And definitely, there are no words to describe the invaluable contributions of Lila Helms. In fact, I threatened to have a picture, Lila, of you with every chairman and ranking member, but I don’t know if we’ve produced those yet, so we’ll have to save those for a future markup. But Lila, coming back from the private sector, having served here for many, many years in the Senate, is what you always hope for: somebody with great experience, great knowledge, great expertise, and willing to come back to the Hill to make things happen. So clearly the many, many things that we’ve been able to make happen in the Senate Commerce Committee could not have happened without her help and contribution and her steadfast commitment to the priorities that we have on our side of the aisle. So, Lila, my dearest, dearest thanks for all of that, and cannot imagine what 30 years looks like on the Hill. But we will, we will chronicle again these great accomplishments.
“The chairman mentioned a few of late, but over the history, many — I don’t even know, Mr. Chairman, if the public really does have a sense of the many contributions that are made here by staff and the many contributions that make up a legislative process. Oftentimes, the Commerce Committee is known for negotiating for weeks and weeks and weeks, but people don’t realize that somewhere around 5:00 they kind of grind into an all-night session. And that staff often negotiate all night to come to the final agreements on amendments and processes and then show up here as if they went home and had a rested night. So that kind of dedication goes on day in and day out, and the products of today’s markup, as it relates to the kids’ bills, are just another example of that. I’m sure they were working, if not all night, close to all night last night to get us prepared. So what you see here, we get to benefit, but in reality, it’s the hard work behind us. And Lila, those 30 years have meant a lot to the United States and thank you for that service. That pin is well deserved, and yeah, she could — go out up there on the Floor with that.
“Mr. Chairman. Turning to the markup and the issues at hand today. We have five bills and five Coast Guard [promotions], and I’m pleased to advance four measures today that will help protect kids from harm from using social media and AI, including the Kids Online Safety Act, which has 74 cosponsors and was passed on the Senate floor in 2024 by an overwhelming [91 to 3] vote. Children and teens face real risk of harm online, and we have lost too many. We’ve lost too many. Congress needs to do more. And in my state, in Washington, Sophia Humphries, Brillion Lynch, and Avery Ping, [all] under the age of 21, lost their lives to fentanyl poisoning after obtaining pills through a dealer they met on Snapchat. Their parents recently signed a letter to Senator Cruz and myself, urging that we come together to pass the strongest possible legislation to keep children safe from the harms of social media.
“I believe the Kids Online Safety Act from Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal — who I saw Senator Blumenthal here in back of the room — does just that. It imposes a duty of care on social media platforms, so that these companies have to take reasonable care to make sure they are not creating harm [when] implementing products that harm kids.
“We need more responsibility from social media companies, and KOSA gives parents the tools that help make them accountable when they prioritize engagement over keeping our kids safe. KOSA also requires social media companies to set protective default settings for kids, including limiting design features that encourage or increase the time kids spend scrolling on social media. And KOSA would require covered platforms to have a mechanism for users to report harms to kids on the platform — the platform is required to respond to each report.
“I want to recognize the parents that are here today as well. Thank you all for being here. I know that too many of you have lost children to the harms of social media, and I can’t imagine the tireless advocacy that you have gone through. Thank you so much for being here and being part of today’s markup. I hope we can get these bills to the President’s desk as soon as possible, so that no more parents have to experience what you have to experience.
“The Chatbot Act by Senators Cruz and Schatz and Curtis also includes more tools that parents can use to help protect kids online. The Chatbot Act would give parents more control over kids’ interaction with AI. For example, the bill requires AI chatbot providers to give parents the option to limit the amount of time their kids spend using the chatbot and options to disable push alerts and reward incentives. These settings are automatically set at the most protective settings for kids, unless a parent decides to change them.
“This bill takes an important step, but I don’t think we can stop here. While giving parents more tools to protect their kids — while this is an important first step — we need to ensure that AI chatbot providers are [designing] safe products [with] default protections built in to reduce the risk of this compulsive use — which is so addicting — and to the harms that come from it. And that is why the second chatbot bill we will consider today from Senator Markey is also important.
“Senator Markey’s Youth AI Privacy Act requires those AI chatbots to implement certain safe design features for the use of minors, including providing clear and repeated warnings to kids that the chatbot is not human, disabling push alerts and rewards incentive based on time, and limiting the amount of time the chatbot can recall past conversations with users. This bill also establishes strong privacy safeguards for the data chatbots collect for minors and prohibits advertising to minors. Finally, and critically, I’m pleased that both chatbot bills include floor preemption provisions to ensure that states can continue to enact greater protections for kids.
“The Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act by Senator Duckworth requires the National Academies of Science and Engineering to conduct an AI study on AI-enabled toys. The study will examine the risk of injury and social and emotional and educational outcomes for children using those toys. Additionally, the bill directs the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Product Safety Commission to prepare [a] joint action plan with recommendations on the use of those toys and providing safety.
“I am concerned about the risk posed by these AI-enabled toys, especially to young children, and I hope that this study will help us with an action plan here and meaningful recommendations for the future, and help spur the CPSC to take action to protect kids from harm posed by those toys.
“Finally, considering the SCREEN Act by Senators Lee and Curtis, while I appreciate my colleagues’ goal of trying to protect children, I can’t support the bill as written today. But I look forward to working with my colleagues in the future to improve this legislation and hopefully get it…out of the Senate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
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