119-hr2080

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2080 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2080

 To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral 
history resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 11, 2025

 Ms. Salazar (for herself, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. 
 Malliotakis, Ms. De La Cruz, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. 
 Lawler, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. 
 Rutherford, Mr. Owens, Mr. Bilirakis, and Mrs. Hinson) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
 Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral 
history resources regarding certain political ideologies, 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 ``Crucial Communism Teaching Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

 The purposes of this Act are the following:

    (1) To help families, civic institutions, local 
 communities, local educational agencies, high schools, and 
 State educational agencies to prepare high school students to 
 be civically responsible and knowledgeable adults.

    (2) To ensure that high school students in the United 
 States--
        (A) learn that communism has led to the deaths of 
 over 100,000,000 victims worldwide;
        (B) understand the dangers of communism and similar 
 political ideologies; and
            (C) understand that 1,500,000,000 people still 
 suffer under communism.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF CIVIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM AND 
 ORAL HISTORY RESOURCES.

 The independent entity created under 

section 905

    (b)

    (1)
        (B) of the 
FRIENDSHIP Act (40 U.S.C. 8903 note; 107 Stat. 2331 note), also known 
as the ``Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation'', shall--

    (1) develop a civic education curriculum for high school 
 students that--
        (A) includes a comparative discussion of certain 
 political ideologies, including communism and 
 totalitarianism, that conflict with the principles of 
 freedom and democracy that are essential to the 
 founding of the United States;
        (B) is updated periodically to ensure the 
 curriculum includes both past and present communist and 
 totalitarian regimes, with a focus on--
            (i) ongoing human rights abuses by such 
 regimes, such as the treatment of Uyghurs in 
 the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

    (XUAR) by 
 the People's Republic of China; and
            (ii) aggression by such regimes against 
 democratic nations and democracy, such as 
 actions taken by the People's Republic of China 
 to deter pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong 
 and the increasingly aggressive posture by the 
 People's Republic of China toward Taiwan, a 
 democratic friend of the United States.
            (C) is accurate, relevant, and accessible, so as to 
 promote the understanding of such political ideologies; 
 and
            (D) is compatible with a variety of courses, 
 including social studies, government, history, and 
 economics classes;

    (2) develop oral history resources that may be used 
 alongside the curriculum described in paragraph

    (1) and that 
 include personal stories, titled ``Portraits in Patriotism'', 
 from diverse individuals who--
        (A) demonstrate civic-minded qualities;
        (B) are victims of the political ideologies 
 described in paragraph

    (1)
        (A) ; and
            (C) are able to compare the political ideologies 
 described in paragraph

    (1)
        (A) with the political 
 ideology of the United States; and

    (3) engage with State and local educational leaders to 
 assist high schools in using the curriculum described in 
 paragraph

    (1) and the resources described in paragraph

    (2) .

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

 The terms in 

section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall apply to this Act.
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