Chairman Jordan, Senator Paul Fight to Protect Americans’ First Amendment Rights Against Government Censorship
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced the Free Speech Protection Act, which will prohibit executive branch employees and contractors from using their positions to censor and otherwise attack speech protected by the First Amendment. The bill will also impose mandatory severe penalties for those executive branch employees who censor speech.
“Censorship is a major threat to freedom today. It is clear that Big Government must be more transparent, and that bureaucrats must be held accountable for censorship. The Free Speech Protection Act accomplishes that and gives individuals remedies for censorship to protect vital First Amendment freedoms,” said Chairman Jim Jordan.
“Americans are free people and we do not take infringements upon our liberties lightly. The time has come for resistance and to reclaim our God-given right to free expression,” said Senator Paul. “Under my Free Speech Protection Act the government will no longer be able to cloak itself in secrecy to undermine the First Amendment rights of Americans.”
“No other administration in history has threatened Americans’ freedom of speech like the Biden Administration, and we have an obligation to the American people to uphold the fundamental principles of our Constitution. When I was Missouri’s Attorney General, I filed Missouri v. Biden that exposed this censorship, and now I’m proud to join Senator Paul and Representative Jordan in working to dismantle this vast censorship enterprise. This censorship should scare every American - regardless of political affiliation, and government does not get to outsource their censorship to social media companies,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt.
As part of protecting Americans’ First Amendment rights, the bill would also:
Mandate frequent publicly accessible reports from the heads of executive branch agencies detailing the communications between an executive branch agency and Big Tech.
Ensure that federal grant money is not misused to label media organizations as sources of misinformation or disinformation.
Terminate several programs and authorities that threaten free speech and other constitutionally protected rights.
The Free Speech Protection Act is originally cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA), Barry Moore (R-AL), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Greg Steube (R-FL), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Ken Buck (R-CO), Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Ben Cline (R-VA), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
You can read the bill here.