117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4854 

To amend title 36, United States Code, to repeal the Federal charter of 

the National Education Association. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 

Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Ms. LUMMIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 36, United States Code, to repeal the Federal 

charter of the National Education Association. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Education 

5 Association Charter Repeal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (1) The National Education Association (re8 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘NEA’’) was char9 tered in 1906 by an Act of Congress for the purpose 

10 ‘‘to elevate the character and advance the interests 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•S 4854 IS

1 of the profession of teaching; and to promote the 

2 cause of education in the United States’’ and re3 mains the only labor union that has a Federal char4 ter. 

5 (2) The NEA is expected to uphold the honor 

6 and legitimacy that a Federal charter grants to an 

7 organization. 

8 (3) The NEA can no longer be considered a 

9 public service worthy of its Federal charter as it has 

10 drifted substantially from its core mission and has 

11 become a massive political operation dedicated to im12 posing a radical progressive agenda on schools in the 

13 United States. 

14 (4) The NEA and its political agenda are often 

15 at cross-purposes with parents, teachers, and stu16 dents, and the NEA no longer primarily serves the 

17 purposes of advancing the profession of teaching or 

18 promoting the cause of education in the United 

19 States. 

20 (5) According to disclosures made to the De21 partment of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management 

22 Standards, from September 2019 through August 

23 2021, the NEA spent over $116,700,000 on political 

24 activities and lobbying, and in the 2020 election 

25 cycle, 95.7 percent of the candidate campaign conVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Sep 16, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4854.IS S4854

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•S 4854 IS

1 tributions made by the NEA went to candidates in 

2 the Democratic party. 

3 (6) In July 2021, the NEA adopted measures 

4 to support critical race theory, calling it reasonable 

5 and appropriate, and to spend $56,500 on research6 ing and shaming organizations that are fighting the 

7 inclusion of critical race theory in schools. 

8 (7) In December 2021, NEA board member 

9 Mollie Page Mumau published a social media post 

10 calling for the death of individuals who decide not to 

11 receive the COVID–19 vaccine. 

12 (8) In July 2022, the NEA adopted measures 

13 to spend $140,000 to create an enemies list of par14 ents and groups that disagree with teaching gender 

15 identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. 

16 (9) The NEA and other teacher unions stood in 

17 the way of reopening schools in 2020 and 2021 by 

18 threatening strikes, lobbying to keep schools closed, 

19 and influencing the Centers for Disease Control and 

20 Prevention to make it harder for schools to reopen. 

21 (10) In August 2022, the National Center for 

22 Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special ad23 ministration of the National Assessment of Edu24 cation Progress long-term trend reading and mathe25 matics assessments for age 9 students to examine 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•S 4854 IS

1 student achievement during the COVID–19 pan2 demic. The NCES reported the largest average score 

3 decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever 

4 score decline in mathematics. 

5 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 

6 CHARTER. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1511 of title 36, United 

8 States Code, is repealed. 

9 (b) TABLE OF CHAPTERS.—The table of chapters at 

10 the beginning of part B of subtitle II of title 36, United 

11 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

12 chapter 1511. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB