Comer, McMorris Rodgers, Jordan Applaud House Passage of Bill to Protect Americans from Censorship
WASHINGTON— House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman Member James Comer (R-Ky.), House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), and House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) applauded House passage of the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act (H.R. 140). The bill prohibits federal employees from pressuring social media companies to silence, censor, or remove Americans expressing views online.
“Today the House of Representatives took action to protect our constitutional right to free speech from government censorship. The Biden Administration has eroded Americans’ First Amendment rights by bullying social media companies to censor certain views and news on their platforms. Biden Administration officials are quick to label inconvenient facts as disinformation and then pressure social media companies to suppress content on their platforms. To protect the First Amendment, the Protect Speech from Government Interference Act stops federal employees from pressuring social media companies to silence Americans expressing views online. The Senate must take up this legislation to get this bill to the finish line,” said Oversight Committee Chairman Comer.
The Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, introduced by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), expands the Hatch Act—the law prohibiting federal employees from engaging in political activities in their official capacity—to expressly prohibit those same federal employees from censoring lawful speech. The bill prohibits agency employees from using their official authority or resources to influence or coerce a private sector platform to censor—including to remove, suppress, restrict, or add disclaimers or alerts to—any lawful speech posted on its platform by a person or entity. It provides an exception for legitimate law enforcement activities reported to Congress for review.
“President Joe Biden and his administration have become the party of censorship. They’re actively silencing American voices in order to control the narrative to benefit their political agenda—we have the receipts. House Energy and Commerce Republicans have condemned these censorship efforts again and again, and I’m pleased to join Representatives Comer and Jordan in passing this legislation to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights from federal employees seeking to abuse their power and control the battle of ideas. We will not allow this administration to be the arbiters of truth online,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chair McMorris Rodgers.
“Federal government employees are paid with Americans’ tax dollars to serve the public, not to decide what information they want private parties to censor. The Twitter files, and other information that has come to light, show that this practice is rampant and there’s never been a more important time for Chairman Comer’s ‘Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act’ to be adopted,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jordan.
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