Social Media, Collaboration in the House, and Still No Aid

Welcome back to Politics Explained! If you’re new, this blog is designed to be a concise weekly snapshot of the events on Capitol Hill. This week, we saw CEOs of major social media companies take the stage at a senate hearing, a tax bill that passed by the House, and an update on the Ukraine-U.S. border bill that we’ve been tracking for weeks! Let's get started. 

This past Wednesday, leaders of five major social media companies came under fire at a Senate hearing. In attendance were Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, Discord CEO Jason Citron, and X CEO Linda Yaccarino. The focus of this hearing was to put pressure on these CEOs for the negative impact their product is having on our country’s youth. More specifically, it was on the protection of kids from online sexual exploitation, where we see a rare occasion of both Democrats and Republicans finding common ground. Parents and families of victims who also attended the hearing, shifting the nature of the meeting and adding fuel to the push against the CEOs. Social media has proven to have many extreme negative effects on children, yet legislation has yet to be passed to solve these issues. Looking ahead, there must be a continued fight against the harm that these platforms cause, and bills NEED to be passed to ensure the health of future generations. 

The House passed a bipartisan* $78 billion tax bill on Wednesday, with a vote of 357 to 70. Out of the 70 that voted against it, 47 were Republicans and 23 were Democrats. As for what it actually is, the bill’s main purpose is to expand the child tax credit. To explain, the child tax credit is supposed to help ease the costs of raising a child, lowering a family’s tax bill by up to $2000 per child. This bill can be seen as a test of the functionality of our Congress after a historically unproductive year on Capitol Hill. The American people also want to see less divide and more action, and the House’s passing of this bill is one step towards this. 

While the E.U. was able to provide aid to Ukraine, the United States still has nothing to give. Our blog has been following this bill for weeks now, and the fact that no progress has been made is truly a testament to the political divide within this country. After Former President Donald Trump made comments that Republicans should hold out even longer, the likelihood of aid to Ukraine has shrunk even more. While half of Ukraine’s national budget relies on foreign financial aid, lawmakers MUST come to a consensus soon. 

*Definition of the week (bipartisan): when opposing political parties agree