Despite calls for increased regulation of the tech industry, Congress has yet to pass any major legislation, leaving it up to the states to take action curbing tech companies’ power and influence.
Meanwhile, state legislatures have introduced and enacted legislation on data privacy, antitrust, and content moderation, while state attorneys general have issued a number of legal challenges alleging anticompetitive business practices.
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Apple proposed a settlement with app developers Thursday, requiring the tech company to restructure its app store and change some of its more controversial practices.
The agreement, still pending court approval, would settle a class action antitrust lawsuit filed by app developers against Apple for alleged anticompetitive practices in its app store.
The company will now permit app developers to use information obtained in their apps to directly communicate with consumers about payment options outside the app store, Apple announced in court filings Thursday. This helps developers avoid paying Apple a commission on app purchases, and grants developers greater control over their apps.
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By a vote of 69 to 30, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a $1.2 billion infrastructure bill that Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) warns is an endeavor to “fundamentally move America toward Western-Europe-style socialism.”
“Investing in infrastructure the right way is a wise investment in America’s future and in our long-term competitiveness, but that’s not what we’re being asked to vote on here,” Hagerty told fellow senators in the run-up to Tuesday’s vote.
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As U.S. Senate leaders expect to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday morning, both of Tennessee’s senators, Marsha Blackburn (R) and Bill Hagerty (R) are vehemently opposing the legislation, alarmed by its potential to worsen the national debt.
Senate Democrats have expressed their intention to use a process called reconciliation to avoid any possible filibuster, thus allowing themselves expand the measure to encompass $3.5 trillion in federal spending.
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Tennessee’s U.S. Senators, Marsha Blackburn (R) and Bill Hagerty (R), this week joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) in sponsoring legislation forbidding the executive branch from publishing guidelines on country-of-origin product labels that disfavor Israel.
Per a 1995 Clinton-era policy, U.S. labeling regulations used to require that products manufactured in Judea and Samaria be labeled as “Made in West Bank.”
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX-10) introduced a bill Wednesday to counteract authoritarian regimes’ clout within the United Nations.
The legislation is designed to contravene “malign influence, require transparency, and promote accountability within the United Nations system.…”
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Speaking to iHeartRadio host Sara Carter on Thursday, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn condemned the Biden administration’s professed “flagging” of what it terms “disinformation” regarding COVID-19 for social-media companies.
“What they’ve set up is basically a premise that if your message is not government-approved, then what you’re going to experience is state-sponsored censorship….” Blackburn said.
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Tennessee’s AFL-CIO chapter rallied Tuesday afternoon outside the Nashville offices of Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty in favor of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
The legislation would forbid states from maintaining right-to-work policies which allow workers who chose not to join a union to decline to pay union dues. The bill would also redefine many independent contractors as employees for purposes of collective bargaining—thus placing what many consider a heavy burden on freelancers—and would impose numerous other pro-union provisions.
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U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) introduced a bill on Tuesday that is aimed to increase the level of transparency associated with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The legislation, known as the DHS Contract Reporting Act of 2021, would instruct DHS to publish a public, daily report of all headquarters and component contracts related to the agency that exceeds $4 million.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined a group of Republican senators in calling on the Biden administration to end the mask mandate for fully vaccinated individuals that is currently in place for airplanes and public transportation.
The group introduced a resolution that would recommend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop the regulations.
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During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) expressed concerns over President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), David Chipman.
“Mr. Chipman is willing to lie to push his anti-gun agenda. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deserves a better leader. Americans deserve a better leader,” Blackburn said of the concerning statements made by Chipman.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03) and demanded a briefing from the Department of Health and Human Services, after reports of abuse of the unaccompanied minors in federal custody.
“This allegation of abuse and the missing child individually raise urgent questions that demand immediate answers regarding the steps HHS is taking to ensure the safety and well-being of UACs in this Chattanooga facility,” the letter states.
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This week, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) assisted in the introduction of a bill to prohibit federal funding for schools using the 1619 Project as curriculum. The Saving American History Act also notes that federal funds couldn’t be used by school boards and other local educational agencies to support the teaching of the 1619 Project.
The act explained that the respective secretaries of Education, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Defense, and Interior would determine the cost of teaching the 1619 Project – including planning and teaching time. This determination would come from pre-established formulas. No reductions would affect the free and reduced price school lunch program, or any low-income student programs, or students with disabilities.
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Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty are on a mission to stop Congress and the White House’s rampant, out-of-control spending agenda that is raising the cost of living for far too many Tennessee families.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) challenged Dr. Anthony Fauci this week over his handling of COVID-19 and apparent collusion with Big Tech. Following the mass release of Fauci’s emails through an open records request last week, Blackburn published a video Tuesday to offer some summarized insight on Fauci’s involvement in the COVID-19 outbreak and his email correspondence with Facebook.
“Here are the facts on Fauci that big tech doesn’t want you to know,” tweeted Blackburn.
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In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA) called for a hearing into the ongoing crisis at the country’s Southern border.
Both governors urged the hearing largely due to reports of the Biden administration relocating unaccompanied migrant children to the states. In Tennessee, multiple planes carrying unaccompanied minors landed in Chattanooga under the cover of darkness. Similarly, Gov. Reynolds has received no answers from the Biden administration after migrants were flown from California to Iowa.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mike Braun (R-IN) in introducing a resolution to condemn the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools.
“Critical race theory has no place in American schools. The tenets of critical race theory are based in the destructive ideal of inherent racism and will teach our children to judge and self-segregate based solely on skin color,” Blackburn said. “Students should not be discriminated on the basis of race under any circumstances.”
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) traveled to Memphis on Thursday to tour the damaged I-40 bridge and met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to discuss infrastructure spending to meet the logistical needs of Tennessee.
“The I-40 bridge closure affects not only Memphis and the Mid-South region, it affects the entire nation. I-40 is a coast-to-coast federal interstate highway crossing our nation from North Carolina to California,” Blackburn described in a statement. “This bridge situation deserves to have the full and immediate attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Biden administration.”
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined 10 other Republican Senators in demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland explain his decision to reinstate funding for sanctuary cities and states.
The new policy enacted by Garland will reverse policies implemented under President Donald Trump with the goal of curbing illegal immigration.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called on the Biden administration for answers on why they used untrained federal government bureaucrats to care for the surge in unaccompanied alien children.
The letter questions the decision by the Biden administration to send staff from agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission, to the border facilities.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week said “Tennesseans are facing a stark new reality: when our border isn’t secure, every town becomes a border town and every state a border state.” Blackburn said this in an emailed statement that her staff distributed to the media.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Washington Correspondent for the Star News Network Neil McCabe to the newsmakers line to weigh in on his recent story about the House Freedom Caucus’s Speaker choice and the possible motivation behind Donald Trump’s move to New Jersey.
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Former U.S. Republican Sen. Bob Corker this week downplayed talk that he might run for United States president. Corker also opined on whether and how his brand of Republican Party differs from what it is currently under former U.S. President Donald Trump.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced legislation that she said proves it is possible to improve our nation’s infrastructure without implementing the largest tax hike in nearly three decades. Blackburn, in a press release, also said it is possible to accomplish this without adding $2 trillion to our federal deficit.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) warned this week on her Facebook page that “every state is a border state until we secure the southern border.” Blackburn posted several times on Facebook Sunday from Arizona.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced Saturday that she will visit the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona on Sunday alongside Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and Cochise County Sheriff Mark. J. Dannels. This, according to a press release that members of Blackburn’s staff posted on her website.
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Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) this week praised a deal involving a Georgia electric cooperative and a Tennessee-based solar power company, the latter of which has a history of alleged ethics violations. This, according to a press release that members of Duncan’s staff published on his website.
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R–TN) this week helped introduce legislation that she said would shed light on the 157 sister city partnerships between U.S. and Chinese communities. This, according to a press release that Blackburn’s staff published on her website Thursday.
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Tennessee’s two U.S. senators on Tuesday formally objected to putting former President Donald Trump on trial for a second impeachment. Trump left office one week ago.
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Both Tennessee Senators oppose President Joe Biden’s first wave of executive orders. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) quickly criticized Biden’s decisions to end the Keystone XL pipeline, overhaul the immigration system, and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.
In a series of tweets, Blackburn issued her criticisms of Biden’s orders.
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The Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Protection Alliance has accused big insurance companies of trying to push a bill through Congress that aims to ban Surprise Medical Bills and said “they’re really just lining their own pockets.” TPA members, in their ad, said that Congressional efforts to address Surprise Medical Billing are really just “a handout to the big insurance companies that would leave our frontline doctors out in the cold.”
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced legislation to prohibit U.S. pension investments in Chinese companies. This, according to a press release that Blackburn’s staff emailed this week.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) shared that the current COVID-19 relief bill is a bipartisan effort closer to $1 trillion. The senator explained in a press conference Thursday that the move is favored by Democratic legislators over efforts by House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“The good thing is that there are Democrats that have said to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer that they think it is wrong to hold out for a $3 trillion dollar deal, and saddle our future generations with that debt. So they’re working with some Republicans on a bill that is closer to a trillion dollars. So, the bill that we as a Republican conference had agreed on was about a $600 billion bill.”
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Most members of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation support U.S. President Donald Trump and his call for a fair and transparent election.
Trump, a Republican, said he believes voter fraud put his opponent Joe Biden, a Democrat, over the top in certain battleground states after a close election.
But U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) said in a newsletter to his constituents Sunday that Trump’s statements are false and baseless.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07), and U.S Senate Republican candidate Bill Hagerty urged their supporters to vote Tuesday and to also re-elect U.S. President Donald Trump.
They did so Sunday at Franklin’s Liberty Hall inside The Factory, where State Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) hosted his annual Boots & Jeans, BBQ & Beans event.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Senator Marsha Blackburn to the show to discuss the Trump campaign and the Senate races nationwide.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) pushed Big Tech outlets on Wednesday to to provide more transparency to their content moderation practices.
Her remarks at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing were aimed at CEOs Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Sundar Pichai of Google, according to a press release.
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) along with six other Republican Senators sent a letter Tuesday to the College Board (CB) questioning the organization’s relationship with the Chinese-backed Confucius Institutes. In the letter, the senators expressed “concern” about CB’s relationship with the Confucius Institute. The CB is a non-profit organization that administers college placement examines including the SAT and Advanced Placement Program. According to its website, CB works with over 6,000 universities around the world and more than 7 million students yearly. On August 13, the U.S. Department of State designated these Chinese-backed institutes as “a foreign mission of the People’s Republic of China.” The State Department described these institutes as “organizations primarily located on U.S. college and university campuses that push out skewed Chinese language and cultural training for U.S. students as part of Beijing’s multifaceted propaganda efforts.” The State Department also said Confucius Institutes are funded by Hanban, which is an organization connected with the People’s Republic of China’s ministry office. As of September, 67 Confucius Institutes are located in America, The National Associated of Scholars (NAS) reported. Five of these locations will close by the end of 2021. Middle Tennessee University is the only college in Tennessee to…
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is co-sponsoring a reform bill tackling Big Tech’s censorship and “fact-checking” policies. The bill, “Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act,” is a reform of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA).
Section 230 hasn’t been updated in nearly 25 years. The goal of the reform is to “clarify the original intent of the law and examine Big Tech’s content moderation practices.”
Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn to the show to discuss how the Senate will move forward with the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host John Fredericks welcomed Tennessee US Senator Marsha Blackburn to the show to discuss her new book, SCOTUS nominees, and the violence of the mobs.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said this week that she and her colleagues will soon seek someone to replace the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — as they are supposed to, regardless.
Blackburn also said that she wants a person with constitutionalist views.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) during a FOX News interview, discussed the legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away Friday.
Blackburn told host Shannon Bream that Ginsburg “had earned her spot.”
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week appeared on FOX Business Morning to discuss what she said was TikTok’s link with the Chinese Communist Party.
Blackburn discussed these matters with host Maria Bartiromo.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told reporters during a Zoom conference call Tuesday that she and other senators are working to address online censorship — an issue that she said affects musicians, authors, and Christian entertainers.
“Online censorship is an issue that a lot of Tennesseans are talking about,” Blackburn said.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) helped this week investigate how federal officials did not remove a Mexican national in the United States despite his history of violent and illegal behavior.
This behavior resulted in the deaths of four law enforcement motorcycle club members.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is scheduled to address the Republication National Convention Wednesday night.
Blackburn will speak just after 8:40 p.m. Eastern Time and 7:40 p.m. Central Time, said spokeswoman Abbi Sigler.
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U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week announced she is co-sponsoring a bill that, if passed into law, would allow current and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms.
As written, this bill, the Protect Our Prosecutors and Judges Act, would also apply to current and retired local, state, and federal prosecutors, as well as retired judges.
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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Monday that U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) misunderstood him when he faulted Republicans who represent Tennessee in one or both houses of Congress and said they vote like Democrats.
Paul suggested to The Tennessee Star Monday that he had criticized another prominent Tennessee Republican —not Blackburn.
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Former Tennessee congressman Zach Wamp, who recently endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi, on Saturday posted — and deleted — a tweet accusing Sethi’s opponent, Bill Hagerty, of using young female volunteers “in short shorts” to attract votes.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), upon reading Wamp’s tweet, reprimanded the former congressman and suggested he doesn’t respect women.
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