Congress’ 1,500-page spending bill hid a sneaky reprieve for federal censors
Donald Trump's 'Free Speech Policy Initiative' will be the antidote if Congress is MIA on the First Amendment
Congress’ 1,500-page spending bill hid a sneaky reprieve for federal censors
Just when Congress seemed poised to strike a blow against the Censorship-Industrial Complex, its 11th-hour maneuvering threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws of free-speech victory.
Tucked into the 1,547-page continuing resolution before Congress to fund the government into March, now moribund, was a section titled “Global Engagement Center Extension.”
This would have prolonged the life of a key government censorship cog that had been ticketed for closure.
With the funding of the government still in limbo, it is not clear if the Global Engagement Center will die — with its termination date just a few days from now — or be extended.
I’ve got the story in today’s New York Post on why it should be shuttered — how this foreign-facing, counter-propaganda entity of the State Department has come to target Americans’ speech — and the promise of the incoming Trump administration to defend the First Amendment if Congress proves derelict in that duty.
Read the whole thing here.
And for more, check out my testimony on GEC’s targeting of free speech before the House Small Business Committee from back in June.