S.Amdt. 963

SA 963. Mr. SCHMITT submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2024 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle E of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1049. PROHIBITION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS RELATING TO
CENSORSHIP OR BLACKLISTING OF NEWS SOURCES
BASED ON SUBJECTIVE CRITERIA OR POLITICAL
BIASES.

(a) Prohibition on Availability of Funds.--None of the
funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise
made available for any fiscal year for the Department of
Defense or the Department of State may be obligated or
expended to--
(1) enter into any contract or other agreement with any
entity described in subsection (b) or with any advertising or
marketing agency that uses the functions described in
subsection (b)(4) of such an entity; or
(2) provide any form of support to an entity described in
subsection (b).
(b) Entities Described.--The entities described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) NewsGuard Technologies Inc., or any company owned or
controlled by such entity.
(2) The Global Disinformation Index, incorporated in the
United Kingdom as ``Disinformation Index LTD''.
(3) Graphika Technologies Inc. or any company owned or
controlled by such entity.
(4) Any other entity the function of which is to advise the
censorship or blacklisting of news sources based on
subjective criteria or political biases, under the stated
function of ``fact checking'' or otherwise removing
``misinformation''.
(c) Certification Requirement.--Prior to the Secretary of
Defense or the Secretary of State entering into any contract
or other agreement (or extending, renewing, or otherwise
modifying an existing contract or other agreement) with an
entity for the purpose of that entity implementing
advertisements on behalf of the Department of Defense or the
Department of State, respectively, the Secretary shall
require, as a condition of such contract or agreement, that
the entity certify to the Secretary that the entity is in
compliance with subsection (a).
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