WASHINGTON, DC – At Thursday’s Senate Judiciary markup of S. 2992, prominent Democratic senators voiced serious concerns about the tech legislation under consideration and its impact on consumers and businesses. 

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Coons (D-NJ), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) all raised outstanding problems with the bill, including privacy issues, consumer impacts, national security concerns, content moderation issues, and more. 

“We heard enough reservations from senators to make it clear that this legislation is not ready for the Senate floor,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “The problems that Democrats are raising aren’t just tweaks – they are fundamental issues with how the bill could impact consumers, competitiveness, and security.”

Below is a collection of their remarks, including video links to their full statements:

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
“I want to make clear that there are some important issues and ramifications that I’d like to see addressed before I’d feel comfortable supporting the bill on the floor.”
Watch the full remarks by Sen. Leahy

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA-D)
“It’s difficult to see the justification for a bill that regulates the behavior of only a handful of companies while allowing everyone else to continue engaging in that exact same behavior.”
Watch the full remarks by Sen. Feinstein

Sen. Chris Coons (DE-D)
“I have remaining concerns about privacy and security, about our global competitiveness, and about services that are widely popular with consumers and my constituents.”
Watch the full remarks by Sen. Coons

Sen. Alex Padilla (CA-D)
“This is particularly troubling – this bill may hamper the efforts of platforms to address the spread of hate speech, and misinformation, and disinformation online, that have caused so many recent problems for our democracy.”
Watch the full remarks by Sen. Padilla