[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9700 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9700

 To prohibit bilateral economic 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

                           September 19, 2024

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit bilateral economic 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 BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE TO CERTAIN FOREIGN 
              GOVERNMENTS.

    (a) In General.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or 
otherwise made available for bilateral economic 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) 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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