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Senate Commerce Committee advances package of kids'online safety bills
Summary
The Senate Commerce Committee ordered multiple children'focused online-safety bills to be reported favorably and cleared five Coast Guard promotions; the panel also agreed an amendment preserving parental choice on chatbot memory limits. Parent advocates attended the markup and senators pledged work with the House to finish legislation.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on an executive session moved several bills aimed at protecting children online and ordered them to be reported favorably to the full Senate.
Chairman Cruz opened the markup by saying the committee would vote on Coast Guard promotions and "five bills to address issues of kids' online safety," identifying measures including the Screen Act, the Kids Online Safety Act, the Chatbot Act, the Youth AI Privacy Act, and the Children's AI Toy Safety Act. "The bills before us are meant to give parents more control and assurance that their vulnerable children won't be exposed to the worst possible elements of social media and AI chat bots," he said.
Ranking Member Cantwell praised staff and parent advocates in the room and urged action. She recounted tragic local cases and said Congress must do more to prevent harms tied to online platforms. "We have now passed COSA again unanimously out of this committee," she said, referring to the Kids Online Safety Act.
The committee voted to favorably report a set of measures, including the Kids Online Safety Act and the Chatbot Act, and agreed to an amendment preserving parental choice on limits for chatbot memory retention. The panel also ordered five Coast Guard nominations to be reported favorably. Chairman Cruz asked unanimous consent to allow staff to make technical changes, which was granted.
Members who spoke at the end of the session emphasized that substantial work remains on the House side and on the Senate floor to finalize the bills. Several senators thanked parent advocates for their participation and asked staff to continue negotiating with colleagues across the aisle.
