Ashwin Prabaharan ’26
Chief Opinions Editor
Recent omnibus legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden brought onto the public stage debates on some of our most politically charged issues. H.R 815 or the National Security Act of 2024, among other things, provides for allocating $95.3 billion to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, all to be dispensed at the discretion of numerous executive agencies including the Department of Defense. Tucked into the Act lies, however, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act introduced by Congressmen Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi. The Act “prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application” that is either controlled by a foreign adversary determined by the President to be posing a national security threat or is controlled by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Signed into law by President Biden, the dispensation of aid begins while the White House announced it is providing ByteDance 12 months to either divest and sell the application or face a ban from app stores on phones in the United States.
Critics of the foreign aid package for the three nations, each facing considerably dangerous external threats, claim that the domestic front is being ignored while the government sends funds to other nations. Top issues for opponents, composed mostly of members of the House Freedom Caucus and several from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, include the continued lack of funding for border security, the perceived bombardment of Gaza and its inhabitants, and the concerning rise of the national debt. Given the Republican conference’s razor-thin majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to seek Democratic support to supply enough votes for the Act to clear the chamber and be sent to the Senate. In response, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a scion of the MAGA-Trump camp, filed a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair, giving way for a procedural vote to come before the chamber to oust Speaker Johnson. If successful, the House will be forced to vote on a new Speaker from within the Republican conference only several months out from the general election, and given that it took nearly a month to find a consensus nominee, the House will most likely be deadlocked and legislatively impotent for the remainder of its session.
Proponents of the TikTok ban, on the other hand, decry its threatening nature to the national security purported by the Chinese government and the privacy interests of American users. What is striking, however, is that until today, not a single substantive, clear-cut case demonstrating the Chinese government’s complicity in hacking the information of American users has been provided by intelligence agencies, policy institutes, and the government. Only one incident of data hacking on the part of two TikTok employees has been mentioned to news outlets as reasoning for the ban. Furthermore, in the spirit of practical reasoning when assessing this ban, we must admit that if the Chinese government wanted our information, they certainly do not need a social media application used by 20-year-olds making “funny” videos to do so. The maxim of this ban reads contrary to what the ban is supposedly evidently based on: The government will be able to unilaterally determine apps to be threatening national security and have them removed from our devices. As someone who appreciates a rather tame and toned-down government that respects the privacy and liberty of its citizens, this comes surprisingly and a bit frightening to me. What we should consider about the application’s ban when trying to understand its foundation is that it reads well politically for members, and that given the position’s wide popularity across the board, it does not appear to be difficult to take on the position for electoral purposes. The threat this ban poses not only to our freedom to express ourselves and communicate, but also to the privacy of every American citizen is only emblematic of the government’s continual inability to thoroughly reason policy stances while considering the long-term social and political repercussions. Sure, it sounds terrific right now to ban an app evidently “considered” to be a threat, but we will have to live with the knowledge that we just gave the government power beyond our wild imagination.
The same thinking applies to the discussion concerning foreign aid. Ukraine sits at the precipice of utter annihilation at the hands of a nuclear power run by a man whose character can be best described by one word: evil. Thousands have died, countless cities turned to rubble, all to satisfy the territorial yearnings of a madman. What does our supposedly robust and strong government do in response?: quarrel about appropriations that they know wholeheartedly have no political breath, fight for the inclusion of amendments with absolutely no substantive purpose, and demand big, fat pork barrel projects. To remind you, this is all happening amid death and destruction in a state barely functioning. Taiwan stands today, yet functions knowing it is only minutes away from a potential invasion or devastating attack from the Chinese government. Instead of readily aiding a free, democratic state committed to liberal ideals of freedom and fairness, we, the beacon of hope for Western democracy, are forced to haggle with the likes of Congresswoman Greene, whose greatest accomplishment has been managing to convince her constituents to actually, consciously, and knowingly cast their votes for her. Israel, a haven for a people persecuted all throughout history and the world, faced a barrage of Iranian missiles just several weeks ago. America, though it faces a kaleidoscope of domestic issues, practically can and morally ought to provide the funding these nations need to protect themselves territorially and beam light for the values of liberal democracy across the globe.
Congress essentially bickering over these packages and calling for a unilateral ban on TikTok only reveals their carelessness and inability to consider the future implications of their actions, which tremendously ripple through time across different situations. With the debate on foreign aid, it is only forgone conclusion to assert that America must stand its ground and reclaim its leadership role not for its own sake, but for that of every man, woman, and child barely surviving in the darkest corners of our world where all but the warlords, despots, and oppressors reign supreme.
Featured Image Courtesy of NBC News
Copy edited by Colette Potter
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