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