WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released the following statement after six bills that she sponsored or co-sponsored passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. This includes the Romance Scam Prevention Act, ROUTERS Act, Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act, National Manufacturing Advisory Council Act, Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act, and SAFE Orbit Act. 

“As we face an evolving landscape of threats in the digital space, to our national and economic security, and on the world stage, I’m pleased the Commerce Committee has moved six of my bills one step closer to becoming law,” said Senator Blackburn. “This legislation would help protect Americans from online fraud, strengthen national security, shore up domestic manufacturing, and help ensure the United States remains a top destination for economic investment.”

BACKGROUND

See below for more information on each piece of legislation.

• The Romance Scam Prevention Act, sponsored by Senator Blackburn, would require dating apps and services to issue fraud ban notifications to users who have interacted with a person removed from the app. Scammers are merciless in their exploitation of senior citizens who join dating apps to establish meaningful connections, and this bill would put critical safeguards in place to protect all dating app users – but especially senior citizens – from fraudulent schemes.

• The Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act, sponsored by Senator Blackburn, would safeguard Americans’ communications networks from foreign-adversary controlled technology, including routers, modems, or devices that combine both. Tens of millions of families and small businesses across the country use wireless routers as their primary access point to the internet, and this bill would better protect U.S. communications networks and our national security. 

• The Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act, co-led by Senator Blackburn, would strengthenfederal efforts to expand domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips by directing the U.S. Department of Commerce to develop strategies to attract investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and supply chains.

• The National Manufacturing Advisory Council Act, co-led by Senator Blackburn, would establish a council to bring together leaders in manufacturing, labor, and education to advise both Congress and the Secretary of Commerce on how best to ensure the U.S. remains the top destination globally for investment in manufacturing.

• The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act, co-led by Senator Blackburn, would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to publish a final consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other micromobility devices to protect against the risk of fires caused by such batteries. 

• The Situational Awareness of Flying Elements in (SAFE) Orbit Act, co-sponsored by Senator Blackburn, would encourage the development of commercial space capabilities by directing the Office of Space Commerce within the U.S. Department of Commerce to acquire and disseminate unclassified data, analytics, information, and services on space activities and space traffic coordination in low-Earth orbit.