119-hr1619

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1619 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1619

 To prohibit assistance, including assistance under the Foreign 
 Assistance Act of 1961, to foreign governments that abridge the right 
 to free speech that would be speech protected by the Constitution of 
 the United States, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 26, 2025

 Ms. Mace (for herself and Ms. Salazar) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To prohibit assistance, including assistance under the Foreign 
 Assistance Act of 1961, to foreign governments that abridge the right 
 to free speech that would be speech protected by the Constitution of 
 the United States, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``No Funds for Fascists Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO CERTAIN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

    (a) In General.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for assistance, including assistance under the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, for any fiscal year that begins on or 
after the date of the enactment of this Act may be obligated or 
expended to provide assistance to the government of any foreign country 
if the Secretary of State determines that--

    (1) such government, or any employee acting under official 
 authority or influence--
        (A) abridges the right to free speech that would be 
 speech protected by the Constitution of the United 
 States; or
        (B) censors speech that would be speech protected 
 by the Constitution of the United States; and

    (2) such government, or any employee acting under official 
 authority or influence, uses any form of communication (without 
 regard to whether the communication is visible to members of 
 the public) to direct, coerce, compel, or encourage a provider 
 of a covered platform to take, suggest or imply that a provider 
 of a covered platform should take, or request that a provider 
 of a covered platform take, any action to censor speech that 
 would be speech protected by the Constitution of the United 
 States.

    (b) Publication in Federal Register.--The Secretary of State shall 
publish in the Federal Register each determination made under 
subsection

    (a) .
            (c) Waiver.--Assistance prohibited by subsection

    (a) may be 
provided to a country described in that subsection if--

    (1) the President determines that national security 
 interests justify a waiver of subsection

    (a) with respect to 
 the country; and

    (2) at least 15 days before the waiver takes effect, the 
 President--
        (A) consults with the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations of the Senate regarding the proposed 
 waiver; and
        (B) submits to the Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations of the Senate a report containing--
            (i) the name of the recipient country;
            (ii) a description of the national security 
 interests which require the waiver;
            (iii) the type and amount of and the 
 justification for the assistance to be provided 
 pursuant to the waiver; and
            (iv) the period of time during which such 
 waiver will be effective.
            (d) === Definitions. ===
-In this section--

    (1) the term ``covered platform'' means--
        (A) an interactive computer service, as that term 
 is defined in 

section 230

    (f) of the Communications Act 
 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230

    (f) ); and
        (B) any platform through which a media organization 
 disseminates information, without regard to whether the 
 organization disseminates that information--
            (i) through broadcast or print;
            (ii) online; or
            (iii) through any other channel; and

    (2) the term ``employee acting under official authority or 
 influence'', with respect to a foreign government, means--
        (A) any employee of such government; and
        (B) includes--
            (i) a head of state or head of such 
 government; and
            (ii) an individual working under contract 
 with such government.
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