The Dems Who Sided With ‘Big Porn’ Instead Of Parents

Senate Democrats unanimously opposed legislation Wednesday requiring pornography websites to verify users’ ages before allowing access to explicit content, drawing criticism from conservatives who accused the party of siding with the pornography industry over protecting children online.

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 15-13 along party lines to advance Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act. But the bill failed to advance because the committee lacked the quorum required for official action. Four Republicans were not physically present for the vote and were “ayes” by proxy, but proxy votes don’t count toward quorum. Four Democrats were similarly absent and were “noes” by proxy.

The Democratic committee members include: Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), John Fetterman (D-PA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).

The SCREEN Act would require commercial pornography websites to implement age verification technology designed to prevent minors from accessing sexually explicit material. The legislation would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the requirements and prohibit websites or third-party verification providers from retaining or selling personal information collected during the verification process.

Conservative organizations blasted the Democrats for unanimously opposing the bill.

“The porn industry is preying on America’s children for profit, and now it is doing it with the support of Democrat lawmakers,” American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told The Daily Wire. “The 13 Senate Democrats who voted against the SCREEN Act today made it perfectly clear: they would rather stand with Big Porn than American parents and children.”

“We will not back down until families across America are protected from the porn industry and the lawmakers who defend it,” Schilling continued. “The Democrats have a choice. They can join the effort to protect kids online, or they can face the political consequences of standing with the porn companies. Today, 13 of them chose poorly.”

The American Principles Project, joined by Heritage Action, Family Policy Alliance, American Compass, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and several other organizations, urged lawmakers to pass the legislation ahead of the vote.

The coalition argued that online pornography has become increasingly accessible to children, citing research showing that 54% of children age 13 and younger and 80% of teenagers between 12 and 17 have been exposed to sexually explicit content. The groups said the average age of first exposure is now just 12.

Supporters also pointed to growing public support for age-verification requirements. According to the coalition, 27 states have enacted age verification laws for pornography websites since 2022, many with bipartisan support, while the Supreme Court last year upheld Texas’s age verification law in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, finding that governments have broad authority to protect children from sexually explicit material.

The advocacy groups argued that a federal standard is now needed because state laws create a patchwork system that leaves children in states without such laws unprotected.

The SCREEN Act would allow websites to choose among multiple age-verification methods and would not specifically require government-issued identification. Websites could instead contract with third-party verification companies or develop their own systems, provided they meet the bill’s standards.

Opponents, however, have argued that mandatory age verification raises significant privacy and free speech concerns. The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that the legislation would require adults to surrender their anonymity before accessing lawful online speech and argued that digital age verification creates risks that do not exist when showing identification in person.

Critics have also argued that the bill’s definition of covered websites could extend beyond traditional pornography sites to include platforms that host any sexually explicit material, potentially affecting social media sites and streaming platforms.

The SCREEN Act was considered alongside several broader online child safety proposals, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which advanced out of committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote. Unlike the SCREEN Act, KOSA received bipartisan support in committee and could move to the Senate floor.