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

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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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