Legislation that would ban the use of taxpayer funding for the Biden administration’s new Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security is getting the support of Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
The Homeland Security Secretary announced the formation of the board last week, immediately generating concerns over free speech, and drawing comparisons to the ‘Ministry of Truth’ in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, is an original cosponsor of S.4124, a measure to prohibit the use of federal funds “to establish or support the activities of a Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, or any other similar entity established in the Department of Homeland Security.”
“All Americans should distrust any government plan to monitor and control what they say or don’t say,” Hyde-Smith said. “Officials with the Biden administration swear this board won’t censor Americans, but their testimony and other statements make it clear that’s not true. This is an unconstitutional and terrible idea that needs to be stopped immediately.”
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced S.4124. In addition to Hyde-Smith, other cosponsors include Senators John Boozman (R-Ark.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Kennedy (R-La.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).
Access a PDF copy of the legislation here.