EXCLUSIVE — House Republicans are beginning to wage a budget battle to choke off funding to federal agencies for “disinformation” initiatives in the United States they say have led to conservatives being “censored.”
The Biden administration has come under intensified scrutiny from Republicans over reports that agencies, including the State Department, have been linked to left-leaning efforts to throttle conservative news outlets and voices on social media. But through the appropriations process, House Republicans are exploring multiple avenues to establish budget mandates that could starve the government’s ability to target domestic speech online, a handful of lawmakers and sources familiar with the conversations told the Washington Examiner.
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“We’re looking at different language to put on the appropriation bill that says ‘No money can be used to set up a Disinformation Governance Board, money can’t be used for federal agents or federal employees to in any way pressure social media companies to limit America’s speech and label speech [misinformation],'” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
“Those are the kinds of things,” added Jordan, who has launched multiple investigations in connection to alleged online censorship. “We don’t have the exact plans, but those are the ideas. We’re looking to put riders on the appropriation bill.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) office did not return a request for comment.
Jordan’s remarks are a window into how Republicans have fumed since Biden took office due to his administration’s willingness to bankroll or remain in close contact with nonprofit groups and companies, including Twitter under then-CEO Jack Dorsey, that have prioritized content moderation. The Judiciary Committee’s Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee notably brought in “Twitter Files” journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger in March to testify on alleged collusion between the executive branch and social media.
GOP concerns over censorship paved the way for the Department of Homeland Security in August 2022 to shutter its heavily-scrutinized Disinformation Governance Board, which followed the resignation of its then-director Nina Jankowicz. In May 2023, she alleged in a lawsuit against Fox News that the outlet defamed her through critical coverage. Republicans dug up old posts by Jankowicz in which she boosted both the conspiracy that Hunter Biden’s infamous abandoned laptop is “Russian disinformation,” and also debunked claims from Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign that Donald Trump colluded with Russia.
The DHS has been hit with major scrutiny from Republicans following May reports it granted over $350,000 to the University of Dayton in connection to a program on “domestic extremism” and “hate movements.” Dayton sent the DHS as part of its grant application a “Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization,” which appeared to equate the likes of Fox News and the Republican Party to Nazis.
“I’m currently looking at all possible opportunities to bring the censorship industrial enterprise to heel,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), who sits on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, told the Washington Examiner. “We need to be creative and relentless in rooting out these corrupt censorship programs from the federal government.”
Bishop added that he is “exploring every procedural tool” through the appropriations process to slash funding from agencies that are “violating Americans’ rights.” He cited the Holman Rule, which allows appropriations legislation amendments to cut salaries for certain programs or federal employees, who could also be fired.
The debt ceiling deal signed into law by Biden in June to avert government default puts added pressure and urgency on the appropriations process. Under the deal, an automatic 1% cut to overall spending would be triggered if Congress fails to pass the 12 spending bills to fund government agencies by Jan. 1.
House Democrats expressed concerns earlier this week that Republicans could use the 2024 budget bills to boost supposedly politicized proposals, including restricting certain FBI funding, as whistleblowers come forward to discuss the politicization at the bureau. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) claimed to reporters during his weekly press conference that McCarthy has appointed “extreme members” to the Appropriations Committee — which is chaired by Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX).
The House Appropriations Committee did not reply to a Washington Examiner request for comment. One source close to the committee said they are “familiar conversations are happening” in terms of addressing the government’s ties to “disinformation” tracking.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who was tapped to serve on the committee in January, is interested in cutting funding pertaining to the government and certain “disinformation” programs, his office confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The congressman could draft an amendment on the issue in case the legislative text, which he has yet to review, doesn’t adequately address censorship, according to another source.
“As a conservative appropriator, one of my key objectives in the upcoming appropriations process is to root out and defund weaponization in the federal government,” Clyde told the Washington Examiner. “Taxpayer-funded government-by-proxy censorship has rightfully unnerved our nation, and I remain committed to using the power of the purse to eliminate this brazenly unconstitutional practice from further tarnishing Americans’ First Amendment freedoms.”
Another lawmaker eyeing ways through the appropriations process to target agencies from being involved with efforts to fight alleged “disinformation” is Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who sits on the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees.
Issa launched an investigation earlier this year over the State Department’s Global Engagement Center granting $100,000 to the Global Disinformation Index, a British group the Washington Examiner revealed is feeding blacklists of conservative websites to advertisers with the intent of shutting down disfavored speech. House Small Business Committee Republicans expanded that investigation on Wednesday in a written request for the GEC to provide “unredacted” grant records.
“It has been talked about,” Issa said, noting that the GDI saga is an “extremely good example” of the sort of funding that should be slashed. “What we’ve said is we want to be surgical in limiting their ability to improperly use funds. They literally use funds overseas to censor people in the U.S.”
An individual close to the GOP-led House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is examining if it will reauthorize the Global Engagement Center in 2024 over its apparent censorship ties, said they are familiar with a provision in the appropriations bill relating to “disinformation” and funding.
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“On the inside, members are starting to talk robustly about reclaiming the appropriations process as a tool of oversight and legislative work,” a second source close to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told the Washington Examiner.
The second source added, “This Congress is looking for ways to reclaim its Article I power. We have not used the appropriations process in a long time to conduct oversight of the executive branch.”
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
