The canceled meeting was slated to include a markup of the American Privacy Rights Act, a bipartisan and bicameral bill spearheaded by McMorris Rodgers and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
Rodgers said she would continue to work on pushing the bill forward after the canceled markup.
“For every parent, for individual liberty, and for the future of this country, we will continue our pursuit to give Americans privacy rights online,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement.
The scrapped markup of 11 bills in total came after House GOP leaders expressed opposition to the bill, which would establish federal comprehensive data privacy regulations.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill on Wednesday that “for months” there have been “a lot of concerns expressed about different parts of the bill.”
Scalise pointed to the private right of action the bill would establish, a major priority for Democrats that would allow consumers to seek financial damages through court.
Republicans had pushed for the bill to include preemption of state laws, which was included in the legislation pulled from Thursday’s markup.
In a Thursday statement, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he was “committed to working to build consensus in the House on a data privacy bill.”
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member on the House Commerce Committee, called the backlash from GOP leaders “outrageous.”
“It’s outrageous that Republican Leadership would interfere with the Committee’s bipartisan regular order process. I commend Chair Rodgers for her dedication to giving Americans back control of their data,” Pallone said in a statement.
“This is a dire problem that Congress needs to solve. It is too important to the American people to not get this done,” he continued. “We’re not giving up.”
The canceled markup was also slated to include a debate on the Kids Online Safety Act. Child online safety advocates slammed the House members for canceling the meeting and pushing action on the kids’ safety bill further down the road.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
