Tenn. Sen. Blackburn fighting to protect kids online & pass Trump's big, beautiful bill

WASHINGTON (TNND) — What’s in store for the next 100 days of President Donald Trump’s term?

Priority number one: passing the “one big, beautiful bill.”

The Wall Street Journal recently detailed the key Republicans who have the potential to sink the bill's passage ahead of the Trump-set July 4 deadline. Shaky GOP members are worried about the deficit, Medicaid, the State and Local Tax Deductions and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Compromise is going to center on making the tax cuts permanent based on current policy,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “That is where there is unity.”

She says various factions will advocate for add-ons to protect the things their constituents care about. Blackburn emphasized that there are no cuts to Medicare and Medicaid benefits proposed in the bill, something Democrats have been vocal about.

Instead, the bill aims to streamline the benefits process by giving state Governors flexibility in how Medicare and Medicaid services are delivered to meet the specific needs of the recipient.

“What you’re doing is rooting out waste, fraud and abuse and achieving the efficiencies in delivering benefits,” she said. “No Medicaid beneficiaries will see a cut and no Social Security beneficiaries will see a cut and no Medicare enrollees are going to see a cut.”

Tariff Effects on Tennessee

The tax cuts proposed in the bill would also offset the economic negatives that tariffs may cause for consumers.

Blackburn’s home state, Tennessee, imports over $20 billion worth of goods from China. She says that most of those goods go to auto manufacturing, but others go into medical manufacturing or gear for musicians.

“We are working right now with the USTR [Office of the United States Trade Representative] to address these needs,” she said. “Many of these [companies], like a health care products manufacturer in our state, they’ve been working to reposition their supply line out of China. And they’re just about there, but they’re going to need a little bit of help to complete that transition and not increase the prices of their items in the marketplace."

Protecting Minors Online

In addition to her work to pass the bill and aid American manufacturing, Blackburn is a champion for online protections for children.

She’s concerned about recent reports on Meta chat boxes and sexually explicit chats with minors.

“You cannot take children into pornographic movies, or into strip clubs or expose them to alcohol, tobacco and sell that to them,” she said. “But in the virtual space, our kids are being exposed to pornography 24 hours a day.”

She says it is disgusting and horrific, so she and Senator Richard Bumenthal wrote to Meta telling them to change.

“Take this down, take it down now,” she told the organization.

She said it is up to the House of Representatives to pass the Kids Online Safety Act to further protect children in the digital world.