U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Mike Johnson have introduced legislation to immediately defund the Biden Administration’s “Ministry of Truth.” The bill follows Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ announcement that DHS will convene a “Disinformation Governance Board.”
The bill has 50 cosponsors and would completely bar federal funding for the DHS’ “Disinformation Governance Board,” something Johnson said the Republicans will do if President Joe Biden does not get rid of the board. The board is set to be led by Nina Jankowicz.
Republican lawmakers in both chambers have introduced legislation to block the board. According to The Hill, the board was designed to coordinate DHS’s disinformation efforts on topics like migration, natural disasters, and plots by foreign actors while offering oversight to ensure civil liberties and free speech are protected. Republican lawmakers aren’t seeing it that way.
“The creation of a Disinformation Governance Board is violation of our First Amendment rights,” Rogers stated. “I’m glad to join my colleagues in introducing a bill to immediately defund Biden’s Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth’. The government should have no role in policing free speech.”
“The Biden Administration’s decision to stand up a ‘Ministry of Truth,’ is dystopian in design, almost certainly unconstitutional, and clearly doomed from the start,” Johnson stated. “The government has no role whatsoever in determining what constitutes truth or acceptable speech. President Biden should dissolve this board immediately and entirely. If he won’t then Republicans will.”
Mayorkas defended the creation of the board, stating, “It’s not about speech. It’s about the connectivity to violence.”
After announcing her new position, Jankowicz stated on Twitter, “A HUGE focus of our work, and indeed, one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the Dept’s committment to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties.”
Here's my official portrait to grab your attention. Now that I've got it: a HUGE focus of our work, and indeed, one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the Dept's committment to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/C4xiEGfhDt
— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) April 27, 2022