Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Congress worked across the aisle on a bill to protect kids online. Now pass it.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, worked together to draft the Kids Online Safety Act.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Hatch is board chair at Issue One, a cross-partisan political reform organization.

Fifty years ago, my father served as the Republican minority leader in the deep-blue Massachusetts House of Representatives. But during his time in office, he managed to create jobs, protect reproductive rights and author a landmark environmental bill that protects Massachusetts wetlands to this day. (Did I mention he was Republican?)

That solutions-minded approach was my introduction to politics. Legislators prioritized governing: They looked out for problems, listened to constituents and worked together to write effective policies, even on contentious issues — and often with a good dose of humor.


If you’re imagining the scene I just described as a black-and-white film, I don’t blame you. But over the past two years, Congress has acted it out with the Kids Online Safety Act. It’s a strong bill designed to protect our kids. And as the chair of Issue One, a nonprofit that seeks to strengthen our democracy, it’s been heartening to see such an important bill shaped by the very best of our democratic traditions: deliberation, compromise and bipartisanship. Now, it’s time for legislators to pass it.

Creating sound laws about anything is complicated, but reining in Big Tech is a particular challenge, and not just because of the enormous amount of money the industry is spending on lobbying. New technologies pop up constantly, forcing legislators to balance free speech concerns with public safety. However, the authors of KOSA are doing the work for the nine out of 10 voters who want Congress to regulate social media and wrote a bill that was thoughtful from the start.

First, a little history: In late 2021, the Wall Street Journal published an investigation called “ The Facebook Files,” which revealed that Facebook understood the harms — including cyberbullying, eating disorders and even suicide — that its platforms inflict on teenage girls. In response, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), a Democrat and Republican, held a series of hearings to investigate how Congress could reasonably update America’s outdated and flawed policies to protect kids online. KOSA came out of that effort thanks to a bipartisan approach that encouraged checks and balances.

While drafting, Democrats wanted to hold companies accountable, but Republicans pushed to prevent the bill from becoming a “ litigation magnet.” And Republicans wanted kids to see age-appropriate content, but Democrats sought to ensure they’d have access to community groups and information about mental and physical health.

This push and pull resulted in a common-sense bill that, in its current form, requires tech companies to design algorithms that don’t promote eating disorders, sexual exploitation, suicidal behavior or illegal substances to children. It also requires they limit addictive features for young users, set the strongest privacy settings by default, make it easy to submit concerns and delete data, create parental controls to monitor privacy settings, and provide annual reports.

But good policy doesn’t just come from listening to voters and the other party. It also comes from advocates and issue experts. Issue One believes reforming social media is a crucial step towards healthier kids, better-informed voters and a vibrant democracy. Our Council for Responsible Social Media has brought together bipartisan policymakers with experts, parents and each other to figure out how to shape KOSA. Other nonprofit groups have added their expertise to turn the bill into what it is today.

And most importantly, for those who care about free speech, the bill does not force information to be removed from platforms. Rather, KOSA is a bill about regulating addictive, manipulative algorithms — not one that puts a wall between our kids or our citizens and the world.

We have our robust democratic system — from citizens to legislators to advocates — to thank for that. Our federal government is stepping in exactly when it should: When the problem is too complicated for states to manage alone and when there are models to look towards, like the European Union’s and United Kingdom’s similar laws. And it’s stepping in exactly how it should — with input from all sides.

With almost 70 co-sponsors in the Senate, and a bipartisan group of members introducing their own version in the House, there’s nothing left to do with KOSA but pass it. There’s support from both sides of the aisle because, in the words of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), “It is a serious and meaningful step forward.” And as Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of the mothers who have been advocating for KOSA, “They’re counting on us to do something … we have to bring this to a vote.”

In the spirit of a bygone minority leader from Massachusetts, pass KOSA with purpose, with compromise and with a dedication to helping the American people. Exactly as our democracy is meant to work.

Read More

Yes, They Are Trying To Kill Us
Provided

Yes, They Are Trying To Kill Us

In the rush to “dismantle the administrative state,” some insist that freeing people from “burdensome bureaucracy” will unleash thriving. Will it? Let’s look together.

A century ago, bureaucracy was minimal. The 1920s followed a worldwide pandemic that killed an estimated 17.4–50 million people. While the virus spread, the Great War raged; we can still picture the dehumanizing use of mustard gas and trench warfare. When the war ended, the Roaring Twenties erupted as an antidote to grief. Despite Prohibition, life was a party—until the crash of 1929. The 1930s opened with a global depression, record joblessness, homelessness, and hunger. Despair spread faster than the pandemic had.

Keep ReadingShow less
Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan

Photo illustration by Alex Bandoni/ProPublica. Source images: Chicago History Museum and eobrazy

Getty Images

Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan

Some 4 million people could lose federal housing assistance under new plans from the Trump administration, according to experts who reviewed drafts of two unpublished rules obtained by ProPublica. The rules would pave the way for a host of restrictions long sought by conservatives, including time limits on living in public housing, work requirements for many people receiving federal housing assistance and the stripping of aid from entire families if one member of the household is in the country illegally.

The first Trump administration tried and failed to implement similar policies, and renewed efforts have been in the works since early in the president’s second term. Now, the documents obtained by ProPublica lay out how the administration intends to overhaul major housing programs that serve some of the nation’s poorest residents, with sweeping reforms that experts and advocates warn will weaken the social safety net amid historically high rents, home prices and homelessness.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s Ultimatums and the Erosion of Presidential Credibility

Donald Trump

YouTube

Trump’s Ultimatums and the Erosion of Presidential Credibility

On Friday, October 3rd, President Donald Trump issued a dramatic ultimatum on Truth Social, stating this is the “LAST CHANCE” for Hamas to accept a 20-point peace proposal backed by Israel and several Arab nations. The deadline, set for Sunday at 6:00 p.m. EDT, was framed as a final opportunity to avoid catastrophic consequences. Trump warned that if Hamas rejected the deal, “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” and that its fighters would be “hunted down and killed.”

Ordinarily, when a president sets a deadline, the world takes him seriously. In history, Presidential deadlines signal resolve, seriousness, and the weight of executive authority. But with Trump, the pattern is different. His history of issuing ultimatums and then quietly backing off has dulled the edge of his threats and raised questions about their strategic value.

Keep ReadingShow less
From Fragility to Resilience: Fixing America’s Economic and Political Fault Lines

fractured foundation and US flag

AI generated

From Fragility to Resilience: Fixing America’s Economic and Political Fault Lines

This series began with a simple but urgent question: What’s gone wrong with America’s economic policies, and how can we begin to fix them? The story so far has revealed not only financial instability but also deeper structural weaknesses that leave families, small businesses, and entire communities far more vulnerable than they should be.

In the first two articles, “Running on Empty” and “Crash Course,” we examined how middle-class families, small businesses, and retirees are increasingly caught in a web of debt and financial uncertainty. We also examined how Wall Street’s speculative excesses, deregulation, and shadow banking have pushed the financial system to the brink. Finally, we warned that Donald Trump’s economic agenda doesn’t address these problems—it magnifies them. Together, these earlier articles painted a picture of a system skating on thin ice, where even small shocks could trigger widespread crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less