June 20, 2025
Mr. Williams of Texas (for himself and Mr. McCormick) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
To prohibit the Federal Government from using funds to contract with or make awards to certain entities engaging in censorship, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Protect the First Amendment Act
.
Sec. 2. Prohibition on authorization of funding for covered entities and nonprofit organizations or other entities that engage in covered behavior
(a) In general
No funds are authorized to be used by the Federal Government, to contract with or grant awards to—
(1)
a covered entity; or
(2)
a nonprofit organization or other entity that engages in covered behavior.
(b) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Covered entity
The term covered entity means—
(A)
NewsGuard Technologies, Inc. (doing business as NewsGuard
), or any successor thereto; or
(B)
Disinformation Index, Inc., Disinformation Index, Ltd., or Global Disinformation Index gUG (collectively doing business as Global Disinformation Index
), or and successor thereto.
(2) Covered behavior
The term covered behavior means operations, activities, or products, the function of which is to demonetize or rate the credibility of a domestic entity (including news and other information outlets) based on the lawful speech of such domestic entity by purporting to evaluate whether such speech is misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation.
(3) Nonprofit organization
The term nonprofit organization means an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.