WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Eric Schmitt, joined by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), introduced an amendment to the government spending package to prohibit the use of funds to label speech as disinformation or misinformation or to coerce online platforms to alter, remove, restrict, or suppress speech:
“As Attorney General of Missouri, I filed one of the most consequential free speech lawsuits this country has seen in Murthy v. Missouri, and I promised from day one as Senator for Missouri that I would continue to fight for the First Amendment. This common-sense amendment aims to stop government censors in their tracks, while preserving and safeguarding our First Amendment from unaccountable administrative state actors – something all freedom-loving Americans should support regardless of political affiliation,” said Senator Eric Schmitt.
“Iowans and most Americans don’t trust Washington and don’t want the government or some state-sponsored group to tell us what we can and cannot think, say, or believe. And we certainly don’t want the Biden administration spending our hard-earned tax dollars to keep lists of approved and unapproved opinions or encouraging citizens to troll their friends with government-generated propaganda! The irony is, the first name in such a registry should be Biden himself, because his State of the Union was full of so much disinformation,” said Senator Joni Ernst.
BACKGROUND:
Senator Schmitt has a staunch record of legislation defending Americans’ Freedom of Speech and shrinking the power of the administrative state, which includes:
- Senator Schmitt on the Importance of Free Speech.
- Introducing the Censorship Accountability Act.
- Introducing the COLLUDE Act.
- Introducing the ERASER Act .
- Cosponsoring Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) Guidance Out Of Darkness (GOOD) Act.
- Cosponsoring Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) Public Service Reform Act.
- Cosponsoring Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.