(Bloomberg) -- Legislation authorizing President Joe Biden to ban TikTok in the US advanced through a key House committee Wednesday, as lawmakers debate the best way to address the national security threat they say is posed by the popular video-sharing app owned by a Beijing-based company.

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The bill from House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, was one of several China-focused measures the panel considered this week. The committee approved the TikTok bill on a party-line 24-16 vote.

“This is a protection of privacy, it’s a protection from a foreign adversary, it’s a protection of our children,” McCaul said, contending that the app allowed the Chinese government to monitor users’ data while exposing them to propaganda.

Ranking Democrat Gregory Meeks opposed the bill, saying it needed further work and risks getting ahead of a national security review that’s underway. Democrats also said the president should have more leeway in deciding whether to impose sanctions on the company.

McCaul said that he and his staff discussed his bill with both Democratic colleagues and the Biden administration, saying that “very high-level officials are very supportive of a ban.” He said his proposal addresses the legal issues that scuttled former President Donald Trump’s previous attempts to ban TikTok.

“The best way to do this is mandate that the administration sanction companies within a certain category,” McCaul said. His bill includes software applications owned or under the influence of China that contribute to that country’s military, espionage, cyber attacks and algorithmic influence, among other activities.

McCaul’s bill is still far from getting a vote in the Republican-led House, and it’s unlikely that the current version would pass the Democratic-led Senate, given opposition in that party.

Several other bills have been introduced proposing different mechanisms to ban TikTok, or force Beijing-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. to sell the unit.

Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday that “it would be unfortunate if the House Foreign Affairs Committee were to censor millions of Americans, and do so based not on actual intelligence, but on a basic misunderstanding of our corporate structure.”

Congress has already banned TikTok on government devices, and the Biden administration on Monday issued guidance giving federal employees 30 days to remove it.

The House Foreign Affairs panel was one of several committees that debated China-focused legislation on Tuesday. The Financial Services Committee also advanced bills related to China.

Read More: China, Taiwan-Related Bills Advanced by US House Committee

--With assistance from Erik Wasson.

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