In the week since DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board, conservative media — including this magazine — have exposed it for the Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” that it is. Now, bills in both the House and the Senate seek to strangle the board in its cradle.
As The New American reported when the board’s creation was announced, it is a political tool created by the Biden administration in an effort to to silence the opposition ahead of the midterm elections. Biden’s ship appears to be sinking and taking the Democrat party with it. His extreme policies have hurt both his administration and his political allies. Rather than amend his ways, the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue seems to think that pressing forward while muzzling his critics is a good solution.
But his critics appear to prepared, because bills in both houses of Congress seek to abolish the Disinformation Governance Board before it is even up and running.
The untitled House bill — written by Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — will be referred to as the “Protecting Free Speech Act” while it awaits an official title. It seeks “to terminate the Disinformation Governance Board of the Department of Homeland Security and to prohibit the use of Federal funds to establish any similar Board,” according to the bill’s description. Unofficially, Boebert and others are calling the bill “Ministry of Truth Termination Act.” The full text of the bill can be found here.
Amid a week in which prominent figures — ranging from conservative (Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) to centrist (billionaire Elon Musk) to liberal (former Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) — publicly criticized the creation of the board, Boebert announced her bill, tweeting:
Secretary Mayorkas is a traitor to the Constitution.
Impeach him.
Pass my bill.
Save free speech.
In the video accompanying that tweet, Boebert says, “Here’s an idea: Instead of trying to pull from the playbook of Stalin and Mao, how about securing our southern border so we don’t have three million illegal aliens invading our country?” She continued, “How about building the wall so we don’t have mobile morgues filled with dead migrant bodies?” Boebert called Mayorkas out by name, saying he should “stop acting like a dictator and try acting like you give a darn about the safety and security of your fellow Americans.” She called on Americans to “make our voices heard” saying, “We will not accept being called domestic terrorists for showing up to school boards, and we sure as heck won’t be allowing these corrupt bureaucrats to create a ‘Ministry of Truth’ to gaslight the American People.”
And while Boebert has a reputation as an extreme right-winger, on this issue, she appears to have her finger on the pulse of almost everyone who is not an extreme left-winger. The Ministry of Truth — to be headed by Nina Jankowicz in her role as Arbiter of All Truth — has been roundly condemned by almost anyone who falls to the right of Mao or Stalin.
DeSantis said he thought the board was a “belated April Fool’s joke.” Musk said the timing — coinciding a little too neatly with his recent purchase of Twitter and his promise to transform it into a platform for free speech — is “messed up.” And Gabbard — who is a true, blue Democrat — said:
This is the kind of thing that you see in dictatorship, this Ministry of Truth, this department of propaganda that the Biden administration has just stood up and the reason why you see this in dictatorships is because they’re afraid of us. They’re afraid of the people.
Given the reaction to the Biden administration’s creation of a board to decide for any and all what is and is not truth, Boebert’s bill may find plenty of support among House Republicans who seek to put Biden in his place and among House Democrats who seek to distance themselves from Biden’s sinking-ship extremist policies.
And in the Senate, a similar bill — introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) calls for the immediate dissolution of the board and the immediate removal of Jankowicz as executive director. And like Boebert’s House bill, Hawley’s Senate bill would also prevent DHS from ever trying this stunt again. As MSN reports:
The Missouri Republican’s legislation is aimed at immediately dissolving the new “Disinformation Governance Board” and would ensure that DHS could never re-establish its attempt to monitor and censor the First Amendment rights of Americans. It would also prohibit Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from authorizing similar activities elsewhere in DHS.
And Hawley’s bill goes farther, calling Mayorkas and his department to account for themselves. Again, from MSN:
In addition to dissolving the board, Hawley’s “Dissolving the Disinformation Governance Board Act” would require Mayorkas to disclose all records pertaining to the formation of the board within 30 days of the legislation being enacted.
The records required in the disclosure include: “Written or recorded communications concerning the formation of the Board; the agenda or minutes from any meeting at which the Board’s formation was discussed; any legal review to determine whether the activities of the Board would be authorized by the Constitution of the United States; any communications or records about the individuals who would be recruited to serve on the Board.”
The full text of Hawley’s Senate bill can be found here.
Hawley told Fox News, “Biden’s so-called Disinformation Board is unconstitutional and must be dissolved immediately,” adding, “This is nothing short of a censorship committee vested with the full powers of the federal government to monitor dissenting speech and opposing viewpoints under the guise of national security.” He continued, “The American people need a full accounting of who signed off on this Board and who approved such a radical, anti-free speech activist to lead it.”
Taking fire from both houses of Congress, the “Ministry of Truth” appears to be in trouble before it could even cause any trouble. The Biden administration appears — once again — to have overestimated itself while underestimating the opposition.
