Section 230 Repeal Tied to $2,000 COVID Relief Checks in New Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On December 22, Donald Trump for the first time called on Congress to include $2,000 “stimulus” checks for eligible Americans in the COVID economic relief bill that had just passed both houses—rather than the $600 checks that were already in the bill, a sum on which his own administration had insisted.  Democrats had pushed for a higher payment amount, with some landing on the $2,000 figure as far back as May.  But for months, Trump has also been calling for the full repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, the law guaranteeing protections for free expression on the internet. Section 230 protects the right of internet platforms to allow posting of a wide range of controversial content without fear of legal liability, making the 24-year-old law an essential one for the online adult industry. On Tuesday, both of Trump’s demands were tied together in a single piece of legislation introduced by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, after he blocked a move for an immediate Senate vote on the $2,000 checks alone. The Democratically controlled House of Representatives passed a bill providing $2,000 checks last week, but the legislation needed to pass the Senate as well. The House also voted to override Trump’s veto of a crucial defense spending bill that would provide pay increases and health care funding for military servicemembers—a veto that Trump said was due to the bill’s failure to include a repeal of Section 230.  Now, if Democrats and some Republicans insist on passing the $2,000 relief check bill, they will also be forced to acquiesce to repealing Section 230 in full. But that appears unlikely to happen, with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasting McConnell’s bill as a “cynical gambit,” and saying that the Majority Leader’s only real purpose is to kill the $2,000 payment legislation, which has been demanded by Trump. Though McConnell has placed his combined bill on the Senate calendar, there remains no set time for a vote, and in fact, the Senate is not expected to take up the bill at all, according to a CNN report.   The Senate has also failed so far to vote on overriding Trump’s veto of the defense bill. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is currently blocking any vote on the override until the Senate votes on a standalone bill authorizing the $2,000 relief payments, but not Section 230 repeal. The clock is ticking on any new legislation, however. The current session of Congress ends on January 3, when newly elected members will be sworn into office. At that time, any bills not yet voted upon would expire, and need to be reintroduced and debated by the new Congress. Photo By U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District / Wikimedia Commons