119-hr3719

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3719 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3719

 To prohibit the employees, officers, and agents of the Department of 
 State, and persons and entities awarded grants or contracts or 
 otherwise provided, directly or indirectly, Federal funds from the 
 Department of State, from censoring the free speech of United States 
 citizens.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 4, 2025

 Mr. Huizenga (for himself, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Shreve, Mr. Self, Mrs. 
Luna, Mr. Guest, Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona, and Mr. Clyde) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To prohibit the employees, officers, and agents of the Department of 
 State, and persons and entities awarded grants or contracts or 
 otherwise provided, directly or indirectly, Federal funds from the 
 Department of State, from censoring the free speech of United States 
 citizens.

 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 ``Restoring American Freedom Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING CENSORSHIP OF FREE SPEECH OF UNITED STATES 
 CITIZENS.

    (a) Prohibiting Censorship of Free Speech.--

    (1) In general.--

Section 1

    (b)

    (3) of the State Department 
 Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a

    (b)

    (3) ) is 
 amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``
        (G) monitor and ensure that--
 ``
            (i) no Department employee, officer, and 
 agent, and no person or entity awarded a grant 
 or contract or otherwise provided, directly or 
 indirectly, Federal funds from the Department, 
 engages in or facilitates conduct that would 
 unconstitutionally abridge the free speech (as 
 such term is defined in 

section 2

    (b)

    (2)
            (C) of 
 the Restoring American Freedom Act) of a United 
 States citizen;
 ``
            (ii) none of the funds authorized to be 
 appropriated or otherwise made available to the 
 Secretary are used to engage in or facilitate 
 conduct that would abridge the free speech (as 
 so defined) of a United States citizen; and
 ``
            (iii) appropriate action is taken to 
 correct past misconduct by each Department 
 employee, officer, and agent, and each person 
 or entity awarded a grant or contract or 
 otherwise provided, directly or indirectly, 
 Federal funds from the Department, who engaged 
 in or facilitated the censorship of the free 
 speech (as so defined) of a United States 
 citizen.''.

    (2) Clerical amendments.--

Section 1

    (b)

    (3) of such Act is 
 amended--
        (A) in subparagraph
        (E) , by striking ``; and'' and 
 inserting a semicolon; and
        (B) in subparagraph
        (F) --
            (i) in clause
            (iii) , by striking the 
 semicolon at the end and inserting ``; and'';
            (ii) by striking clause
            (iv) ; and
            (iii) in clause
            (v) ,
            (I) by striking ``bureaus.'' and 
 inserting ``bureaus; and''; and
            (II) by redesignating clause
            (v) as 
 clause
            (iv) .

    (b) Prohibiting Using Funds to Censor Free Speech.--

    (1) In general.--No funds authorized to be appropriated or 
 otherwise made available to the Secretary of State may be 
 awarded, granted, or otherwise provided, directly or 
 indirectly, to any person or entity that--
        (A) publishes or disseminates an advertising 
 blacklist; or
        (B) creates, tests, or distributes a censorship 
 tool without sufficient safeguards, as determined by 
 the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, for 
 preventing such tool from being used to censor the free 
 speech of a United States citizen.

    (2) === Definitions. ===
-In this subsection:
        (A) Advertising blacklist.--The term ``advertising 
 blacklist'' means a curated list used to identify a 
 United States citizen for the purpose of discouraging 
 or prohibiting an advertiser from placing an 
 advertisement with, or providing financial support to, 
 such citizen because of the content of the free speech 
 of such citizen.
        (B) Censor.--The term ``censor'' means to 
 scrutinize and examine the free speech of a United 
 States citizen with the intent to suppress such free 
 speech, and includes--
            (i) exerting substantial coercive pressure 
 on a third party, such as a social media 
 company, to moderate, remove, or otherwise 
 suppress such free speech; or
            (ii) contacting, directly or indirectly, 
 such as through an academic institution, a 
 social media company, to moderate, remove, or 
 otherwise suppress such protected speech.
            (C) Free speech.--The term ``free speech'' means 
 speech protected by the First Amendment of the United 
 States Constitution from being suppressed by the United 
 States Government.

    (3) Enforcement.--As soon as practicable, but not later 
 than 7 days after the date on which the Secretary of State is 
 notified of each employee, officer, and agent of the Department 
 of State, and of each person and entity awarded a grant or 
 contract or otherwise provided, directly or indirectly, Federal 
 funds from the Department of State, who is actually or 
 potentially engaging in or facilitating the censorship of the 
 free speech of a United States citizen, such Secretary shall 
 notify the Chairman and ranking member of the Committee on 
 Foreign Affairs in the House of Representatives, the Chairman 
 and ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the 
 Senate, and such United States citizen of such censorship.
 <all>