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Hi, and welcome to the your good news podcast with me your host, Katherine Getty. Each Thursday, I'll give you the scoop on the good news coming out of Washington, and how you can get involved with this thing called democracy.
Welcome back to a another episode of the organised podcast a busy busy week in Washington. So I'll first give you some additional context on a very popular app, as well as I want to continue honoring Women's History Month with a turn to looking at some of these unsung heroes in DC. So first, you've likely heard it in the news, there are more concerns over the very popular app, Tik Tok. There I said it tick tock. This may be my officially first hot take of the podcast. So why bring it up? How is it? How is the potential banning of this app? Good? Well, the good is for you to decide. But if you're listening in real time on March 23, then there is a congressional hearing occurring in the ever powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. So I thought I couldn't quite ignore the news. So let's try to find some good. So here's the context. When Energy and Commerce announced at the end of January that the Tiktok CEO would be appearing in March, it made news Republicans who as you know took control of the House, the beginning of this Congress, has already seen in many times their concerns over Tik Tok and in a statement announcing the hearing the Energy and Commerce Committee Chair have come and answer questions. And it says in the press release, it's now time to continue the committee's effort to hold big tech accountable by bringing tick tock before the committee to provide complete and honest answers for the people. Announcing a committee hearing that far in advance nearly two months is not the norm. Typically when I am thinking about the next week of the hearings that I'm watching for my my work, I'm typically hearing those committee hearings a week out. So the fact that nearly two months in advance, I guess seven weeks in advance.
The committee was announcing this is big news. It signals not only to the members of that committee, it signals to their staff, it signals to tick tock it signals to anyone interested in this space. It's really time to have some answers. And you might be asking, Okay, so what are the concerns about an app that there's dancing, there's news, there's all these different things. So at the core, both the FBI and Federal Communications Commission's have warned that the Chinese owned by dance, which is the owner of Tiktok, could share Tiktok user data, such as browsing history, location, biometric identifiers. And who would they be sharing this with? Well, China implemented a law in 2017. That requires companies, Chinese own companies to give the government any personal data relevant to the country's national security. US officials have really been concerned because if they are giving over those biometric data, the locations the browsing history, what do they know about the American people? US officials have repeatedly warned that Chinese government could force this action at any time. And these concerns have raised to such a level that in December as a part of the funding bill I discussed, it was passed like December 23, Congress actually passed a measure to ban Tiktok from all government devices, from someone who works in politics daily, to get a provision like that included in a funding bill is a big deal. It means that Congress is really watching it's a bipartisan, Congress is watching you moment. And I don't think we're alone. You know, across the country states have been these on state owned devices. You also see the European Union's executive branch temporarily banned Tiktok from employee phones, Denmark and Canada have announced efforts to block Tiktok on government have issued
loans. And so you have to kind of take a step back and think if the government is banning it from government issued phones. Is it really good? I'm just saying, I'm just saying heartache. What is going to be happening in the hearing expect theatrics. These are the sorts of hearings when you have this much advance notice. These are not the very calm, normal hearings you get on a daily basis. Congress usually works kind of in the middle. And obviously members on the Democratic or Republican side have different views, but it's much more civil. I think in a hearing like this, it is going to be pretty bombastic, pretty, there could be lots of gaveling, there could be lots of
the other side said this, or they shouldn't have said that. expects that that is a part of what we will see. And that is a part of kind of airing out all of the concerns from across the country. I will say that on a personal note, I don't have tick tock, but I noticed fun, I definitely get videos from friends. And they are always hilarious. But I think Congress's role and understanding where American data goes is a fair question. And that's kind of why I was like, Well, I think there's a good nexus there. Because it's good to know that Congress is concerned about where our data is going. At the end of the day, I think Congress's role and understanding how the algorithm also targets youth. That is another part of the focus in this hearing, is the impact on youth mental health. And I think speaking as someone who, you know, I was in my 20s, or I was actually 30, when the pandemic hit, I can't imagine taking in so much social media as a young person in the pandemic. And I think that it has only been exacerbated in the last few years. The Youth Mental Health Crisis is devastating. And so I think that Congress's role and looking at how is an app impacting our youth mental health is important. I think, no matter what, though, we will definitely have more questions at the end of the hearing than answers. So expect this to be a part of the conversation, not the end. I think it's sometimes hard when we see these big hearings, we think of them from movies or TV, and it's something really big happens after something big could happen after. But I think more than likely there's going to be more questions and more investigations and more understanding of how can we ensure we protect Americans privacy. So more to come on that I think I wouldn't be doing this podcast justice if I wasn't covering the hottest news in Washington. So that is, I guess, the good coming out of Washington, I'm gonna say it's the good coming out of Washington. So second, I want to continue honoring Women's History Month, I found it really very enjoyable to highlight different women's stories. I know last week, I did a personal note about my mom and her impact on me and why I'm in this career field. But I really wanted to take a moment to highlight some unsung heroes. Earlier this spring, we all lay witness to a I would say longer than normal election of Speaker of the House. It was nearly a week long. And Americans from across the country got to see our elected leaders of the House go through many procedural steps. And in that time, many Americans began to notice the really incredible staff that helps members manage the floor when sometimes it would get rather rowdy. So as I started thinking about who to highlight this week for Women's History Month, I instantly thought of Cheryl Johnson who is serving as the Clerk of the House. And then I googled and found out that the Secretary of State also happens to be a woman. So today, I want to highlight these two women and their roles and how important these two roles are to our constitutional republic. So first, let's do the house, as I like to do here some historical context. So on April 1 1789, the House of Representatives convened with its first quorum, its initial order of business was to elect a speaker of the house. That was Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg Say that five times fast, and the next order of business was the election of a clerk. That was a Mr. John Beckley, Esquire, a citizen of Virginia, the first five clerks of the house, interestingly enough, also served as the Librarian of Congress. So I found that to be kind of fascinating, it's now a completely separate position. It became a separate position and 1815. But I thought it was really interesting to kind of know the history behind the Clerk of the House and at its core, the Office of the Clerk performs administrative functions for the US
House of Representatives, including but not limited to, creating and retaining the house journal calling new members order, tracking questions of order, managing the offices and staff of deceased or retired representatives. So think of them kind of as an overarching body that helps kind of create the, the groundwork for the House of Representatives and it's very similar in the Senate. The current clerk, as I said earlier, is Cheryl Johnson and Johnson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication. She later went on to get her JD degree from Howard University School of Law. She's also a graduate of the senior management program from the Harvard Kennedy School. Johnson. In her career, she had 20 years in Congress. She then had 10 years where she was at the Smithsonian Institution Office of Government Relations. And then she was invited back. I mean, she is the definition of a public servant. She served as director and counsel on the committee of House Administration Subcommittee on libraries and memorials House Committee on the post office and civil service Subcommittee on Investigations. She then also served on the House Committee, educational workforce, and then in 2018, Speaker designate Nancy Pelosi named Johnson as her choice for the next clerk of the US House representative. She became the fourth woman and second black person to do so. One thing to note is that these roles are really subject to who's in power, and it's fairly common for the other party to agree to who is nominated. It's really a tradition of sorts. So let's transition to understanding the secretary of the Senate's role. As an elected officer of the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate, supervises an extensive array of Offices and Services, to basically expedite the day to day operations of the Senate. And as the Senate grew, it became a major institution. Numerous other duties were assigned to the secretary whose jurisdiction came to encompass clerks, curators computers, payroll, acquisition of stationery supplies, education of the Senate pages, and the maintenance of public records. The responsibilities include legislative, financial, and administrative function. So it is a very, very important role. The woman who is serving in this role and why I am honoring it and Women's History Month and honoring their commitment to this country is Ann Berry. She is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated from J. J. H. Phillips high school, she earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in education from the University of North Alabama. She has worked as a staffer in the United States in it for nearly four decades, including the offices of Senator Tom Carper, John Edwards, Daniel Moynihan, Howe, Heflin and Doug Jones. Most recently, she was Deputy Chief of Staff for Patrick Patrick Leahy he was we talked about last year he was the chair of the very important Senate Appropriations Committee. And the reason I wanted to take a moment to highlight both of these women. And these role is because they help keep the act of governing happening. Without these two women and their incredible teams, it would be impossible for members of Congress to conduct business. We need folks like these two women who serve for the public good. They hear the call to put country first. I just admire their to impact this country. I mean, nearly seven decades combined, of service to the US Senate and House. It is incredible. i On a personal note, want to just say thank you to Cheryl Johnson, who is the house clerk and and bury the secretary of the Senate. Thank you for your leadership for what you do for this country. You may never hear this episode, but it is a heartfelt thank you and I hope you join me listeners and thanking these women and understanding their roles and the importance of these two roles for governing. Thank you again for joining today's episode where we learned a little bit more. I shared a little bit more about the upcoming tic toc hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the roles of the Clerk of the House, Michelle Johnson, and in the Senate Miss Ann Berry, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, if you ever have feedback, follow me on Instagram at Katherine Getty and can share feedback directly with me there. As always go ahead and hit subscribe if you haven't already. So each week you will get a new what's good in Washington coming to you live. Well not to lie but you get the point. And as always, tune in next week to another episode of The your good news podcast.