Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, I claim time in opposition to the amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, when George Orwell wrote the book ``1984,'' most people took it as a cautionary tale. Some of our friends on the left took it as an instruction manual. We have literally seen this administration try to stand up a ministry of truth. We have seen accurate information about where a lab leak might have come from labeled as disinformation. We have seen medical experts with lifesaving information be labeled as spreaders of misinformation, having their careers ruined and tragically costing the lives of thousands, if not millions, of people.
Let's talk about Russian information for a moment. The Hunter laptop was labeled as Russian information. We had the dossier that was paid for by the DNC labeled as Russian information, and all this has been on the backs of the taxpayer. The U.S. taxpayer is having to fund not only the demise of their own country, but having their First Amendment rights squelched by the government that is meant to serve them.
As if that is not enough, apparently, for our friends on the left, they want to export that on the backs of the U.S. taxpayer to the people around the world. This is how this works.
Right now, the State Department is funding a misinformation tracking group called the Global Disinformation Index, and they have labeled some news outlets like The American Spectator, Newsmax, The Federalist, The American Conservative, One America News, The Blaze, The Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, the Reason, and the New York Post as potential spreaders of misinformation.
They created this list and they aggregate this list to potential sponsors and basically the word is, don't put any advertisement on these sites because they might be ``spreaders of misinformation.'' This is a way to strong-arm and try to drain them of any sort of finances, all sponsored by the U.S. taxpayer.
This is unconscionable. Of course, the understanding shtick is like if you are a business who maybe sponsors one of these things, we might lean heavily on you when it comes to government grants or when it comes to enforcing regulatory burdens and all of these kinds of things. This is not how things are supposed to work in a free society in a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
We need to stop this nonsense, and we certainly shouldn't be exporting it across the world on the backs of the U.S. taxpayer.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, I remind my colleague to direct her comments to the Chair and also remind her that our Constitution understands that those rights are a gift from God, not a grant from government.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), my friend and colleague.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source