Hi,

A proposal led by Ted Cruz in Congress to give federal lawmakers the legal
right to scrub information from the internet could get a vote TODAY. This
would give members of Congress the ability to stop important investigative
journalism dead in its tracks.^1

Coverage of corruption in government, like all of those investigative
articles into Clarence Thomas’ luxury billionaire-funded trips and fake
business income, could become impossible for journalists to write if
stories involve certain information about a member of Congress.

It’s a poorly written, wide-ranging, dangerous censorship proposal — and
we have to stop Cruz’s amendment before an imminent vote in the Senate.

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: Stop the Congressional Censorship Amendment! It’s an
abuse of power and will inevitably hide corruption from public view.

ADD YOUR NAME

This Orwellian proposal will enable corruption to flourish undetected, and
severely chill public discussion on Congressional misconduct. It contains
serious constitutional and implementation problems that will gag our
voices without accomplishing anything productive.

Journalists must be free to report on those with power in any democracy.
And in America, the right of a free press to publish public information —
and for all Americans to speak out — is covered in the First Amendment.
The Cruz amendment is a direct threat to this fundamental constitutional
protection.

This proposal falsely purports to improve congressional security — it will
not — but it will sacrifice constitutional rights, a trade-off all too
often rubber-stamped by bipartisan Congressional majorities. Cruz’s
censorship amendment could receive a vote today, and we can’t leave it to
chance that Democrats will stand against it. In fact, one Democrat, Sen.
Klobuchar, already supports the amendment.^2

Let’s ensure our Members of Congress know we’re in favor of free speech
and opposed to government corruption. Our open, free democracy where we
can hold public officials accountable is on the line.

[ [link removed] ]Add your name: Tell the Senate to reject Ted Cruz’s censorship
amendment — Senate Amendment 218 to the National Defense Authorization
Act.

Thanks for taking action,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress

[ [link removed] ]DONATE

Sources:

 1. Politico, “A bid to protect lawmakers’ personal info online faces
pushback from pro-transparency groups,” [ [link removed] ]July 14, 2023.
 2. Ibid.
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