House bundles TikTok ban-or-sale bill with Ukraine-Israel aid package, pressuring Senate

The House will vote on a bill that will force a sale or total ban of China-owned TikTok as soon as Saturday – after Speaker Mike Johnson signaled the measure will be bundled with a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel.

The modified version of the fast-tracked legislation would give Beijing-based ByteDance up to a year to divest its stake in TikTok or be banned in the US, Bloomberg reported. That’s an increase from the six-month window from the bill’s original version, which passed by House by overwhelming majority last month.

House lawmakers are expected to pass the bundled bills this weekend, setting up a vote in the Senate that could take place next week. President Biden has already indicated he would sign the TikTok ban-or-sale bill if it reaches his desk.

The timeline extension could help assuage the bill’s critics in the Senate, some of whom have argued that the six-month window was too tight to complete a sale.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who had expressed some reservations about the legislation, said she now supports it.

“I’m very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the Byte Dance divestment period from six months to a year,” Cantwell said in a statement. “As I’ve said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation.”