The provision has caused an uproar among Republican offices on Capitol Hill, where conservative lawmakers say House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and congressional leaders are caving to Democrats to save the Global Engagement Center. It was tucked into a 1,500-page spending bill to prevent a government shutdown ahead of the House and Senate adjourning for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s holidays.
STATE DEPARTMENT ‘CENSORSHIP’ OFFICE FINDS LIFELINE IN 1,500-PAGE SPENDING BILL
If passed, the provision would mean the GEC is reauthorized for another year despite the State Department notifying Congress in December that it had planned to shutter the office after GOP lawmakers launched investigations into its ties to speech suppression.
The Washington Examiner first reported that the GEC funded a British group called the Global Disinformation Index, which crafted a blacklist of conservative media outlets to defund them and worked to pressure advertisers.
On Wednesday, Musk and Ramaswamy took to X, Musk’s platform, to put the GEC provision on blast. Many conservative Republicans in the House and Senate did the same, citing reports from the Washington Examiner and by independent journalist Matt Taibbi on the GEC. Formed in 2016, the GEC had an eight-year authorization and had been set to expire at the end of this year — barring lawmakers intervening.
“No bills should be passed [by] Congress until Jan. 20,” Musk said, when President-elect Donald Trump “takes office. None. Zero.”
“They want to spend YOUR tax dollars on censoring YOU!!” Musk also said.
On Wednesday, Musk followed up with a post in response to Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) raising concerns over the GEC provision, writing, “Kill the bill.”
Ramaswamy also pointed to the provision.
“The bill should fail,” he said on Wednesday.
“A ‘Continuing Resolution’ whose purpose is supposedly to keep the government open is 1,500+ pages long & full of indefensible baggage: 72 pages worth of ‘Pandemic Preparedness and Response’ policy [and] Renewal of the ‘Global Engagement Center,’ a key player in federal censorship,” Ramaswamy also said.
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On Wednesday, the State Department declined to comment when reached by the Washington Examiner. Johnson defended the GEC provision.
“Speaker Johnson has killed multiple efforts to pass a 5-year reauthorization of the GEC during the past year, including as recently as the National Defense Authorization Act last week,” a spokesperson for Johnson said. “This bill ensures the incoming Trump Administration has the maximum ability and authority to determine how to handle the office, its authorities, and funding.”
