In gridlocked Congress, unlikely issue of cellphones in schools forges bipartisan bonds

Congress may have found at least one clear signal out of its partisan dead zone: cellphones. In a heated election year, in which a narrowly divided Congress is largely stalemated on most legislation and disrupted by heated rhetoric, fears about the impact of cellphones and social media on children have united political rivals. 

In rapid succession over the past few months, bipartisan groups of members of Congress have proposed legislation or amendments to curb, shift or study the impact of phones and social media on kids — especially in classrooms.

"Teachers dislike cellphones the way the devil hates holy water," Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, told CBS News. Cotton, who has endorsed Donald Trump's 2024 run for the White House and blasted the criminal prosecutions of Trump as politically motivated, has nonetheless found a Democrat with whom to partner to address the impact of phones in schools: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic Party's 2016 nominee for vice president.