Behind the scenes of lawmakers' secret efforts to pass the TikTok bill

A small group of lawmakers met privately about a year ago, aiming to keep discussions away from TikTok lobbyists while protecting a bill that could ban the app.

A little over a year ago, lawmakers demonstrated a rare display of bipartisanship when they questioned Shou Chew, chief executive of TikTok , on the video application's links with China. Their harsh questions suggested that Washington was preparing to force the company to cut ties with its Chinese owner – or even ban the app.

Then came the silence. Little emerged from the House committee that held the hearing, and a proposal to allow the administration to force a sale or ban TikTok fizzled in the Senate.

But behind the scenes, a small group of lawmakers began planning a secret effort that culminated Wednesday, when President Biden signed a bill that forces TikTok to be sold by its Chinese owner , ByteDance, under penalty of being banned. The measure, adopted Tuesday evening by the Senate, disrupts the future of an application which claims 170 million users in the United States and which touches virtually every aspect of American life.

For nearly a year, lawmakers and some of their aides worked on drafting a version of the bill, concealing their efforts to avoid unleashing TikTok's lobbying power. To protect the bill from expected legal challenges and convince unsure lawmakers, the group worked with the Justice Department and the White House.

And the final step : a race for the president's office. leading some aides to dub the bill the “Thunder Run” – which happened within seven weeks of its public presentation, which is remarkably fast for Washington.

"You don't. I won’t have many opportunities like this on a major issue,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican majority leader. He was one of 15 lawmakers, aides and officials directly involved in the drafting and passage of the bill who were interviewed for this article.

We having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.

We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.

We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.

We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.

We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.

He was one of 15 lawmakers, aides and officials directly involved in the development and adoption of the bill. p>

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and log in to your Times account, or subscribe to the entire Times.