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.

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

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.

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

Sources:

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

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