II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4403 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for a civics and 

history education program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 14, 2022 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. COONS, and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 

for a civics and history education program. 

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 ‘‘USA Civics Act of 

5 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. USA CIVICS ACT. 

7 Section 805 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

8 U.S.C. 1161e) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘HIS2 TORY FOR FREEDOM’’ and inserting ‘‘CIVICS

3 AND HISTORY EDUCATION PROGRAM’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and insert6 ing ‘‘subsection (g)’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘the Secretary is author8 ized to award three-year grants, on a competi9 tive basis,’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary is au10 thorized to award grants, at the Secretary’s dis11 cretion but not less frequently than once every 

12 3 years and on a competitive basis,’’; 

13 (C) by striking paragraph (1) and insert14 ing the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) American political thought and history;’’; 

16 and 

17 (D) by striking paragraph (3) and insert18 ing the following: 

19 ‘‘(3) the history, achievements, and impact of 

20 American representative democracy and constitu21 tional democracies globally.’’; 

22 (3) in subsection (b)— 

23 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘as de24 fined in section 101.’’ and inserting ‘‘, or a 

25 partnership that includes an institution of highVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:01 Jun 15, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4403.IS S4403

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1 er education and one or more nonprofit organi2 zations, whose missions and demonstrated ex3 pertise are consistent with the purpose of this 

4 section.’’; 

5 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘that 

6 emerged’’ and all that follows through the pe7 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘founded on the 

8 principles of representative democracy, constitu9 tional government, individual rights, market ec10 onomics, religious freedom and religious toler11 ance, and freedom of thought and inquiry.’’; 

12 and 

13 (C) by striking paragraph (3) and insert14 ing the following: 

15 ‘‘(3) AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT AND HIS16 TORY.—The term ‘American political thought and 

17 history’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) the significant constitutional, polit19 ical, intellectual, economic, social, and foreign 

20 policy trends and issues that have shaped the 

21 course of American history; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the key episodes, turning points, 

23 texts, and figures involved in the constitutional, 

24 political, intellectual, diplomatic, social, and 

25 economic history of the United States.’’; 


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1 (4) in subsection (c)(2)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tra3 ditional’’ and all that follows through the semi4 colon and inserting ‘‘American political thought 

5 and history, free institutions, or the impact of 

6 American representative democracy and con7 stitutional democracies globally;’’; and 

8 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 

9 which may include the creation or use of open 

10 educational resources’’ after ‘‘subsection 

11 (e)(1)(B)’’; 

12 (5) in subsection (d)— 

13 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and insert14 ing the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) increase access to quality programming 

16 that expands knowledge of American political 

17 thought and history, free institutions, or the impact 

18 of American representative democracy and constitu19 tional democracies globally;’’; and 

20 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘tradi21 tional American history, free institutions, or 

22 Western civilization’’ and inserting ‘‘American 

23 political thought and history, free institutions, 

24 the impact of American representative democ25 racy and constitutional democracies globally, or 


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1 the means of participation in political and civic 

2 life.’’; 

3 (6) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USE OF FUNDS.—Funds pro7 vided under this section shall be used— 

8 ‘‘(A) for collaboration with local edu9 cational agencies for the purpose of providing 

10 elementary school and secondary school teach11 ers an opportunity to enhance their knowledge 

12 of American political thought and history, free 

13 institutions, or the impact of American rep14 resentative democracy and constitutional de15 mocracies globally; and 

16 ‘‘(B) to carry out one or more of the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(i) Establishing or strengthening 

19 academic programs or centers focused on 

20 American political thought and history, 

21 free institutions, or the impact of Amer22 ican representative democracy and con23 stitutional democracies globally, which may 

24 include— 


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1 ‘‘(I) design and implementation 

2 of programs of study, courses, lecture 

3 series, seminars, and symposia; 

4 ‘‘(II) development, publication, 

5 and dissemination of instructional ma6 terials; 

7 ‘‘(III) research; 

8 ‘‘(IV) support for faculty teach9 ing in undergraduate and, if applica10 ble, graduate programs; or 

11 ‘‘(V) support for graduate and 

12 postgraduate fellowships, if applicable. 

13 ‘‘(ii) For teacher preparation initia14 tives that stress content mastery regarding 

15 American political thought and history, 

16 free institutions, or the impact of Amer17 ican representative democracy and con18 stitutional democracies globally. 

19 ‘‘(iii) To conduct outreach activities to 

20 ensure that information about the activi21 ties funded under this section is widely dis22 seminated— 

23 ‘‘(I) to undergraduate students 

24 (including students enrolled in teacher 

25 education programs, if applicable); 


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1 ‘‘(II) to graduate students (in2 cluding students enrolled in teacher 

3 education programs, if applicable); 

4 ‘‘(III) to faculty; 

5 ‘‘(IV) to local educational agen6 cies; and 

7 ‘‘(V) within the local community. 

8 ‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—Funds 

9 provided under this section may be used to sup10 port— 

11 ‘‘(A) collaboration with entities such as— 

12 ‘‘(i) nonprofit organizations whose 

13 missions and demonstrated expertise are 

14 consistent with the purpose of this section, 

15 for assistance in carrying out activities de16 scribed under subsection (a); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) Federal or State humanities pro18 grams, which may include those funded by 

19 the National Endowment for the Human20 ities; and 

21 ‘‘(B) the creation and use of open edu22 cational resources on American political thought 

23 and history, free institutions, or the impact of 

24 American representative democracy and con25 stitutional democracies globally.’’; 


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1 (7) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub2 section (g); 

3 (8) in subsection (g), as redesignated by para4 graph (7), by striking ‘‘2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2022’’; 

5 and 

6 (9) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec9 tion shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to pre10 scribe an American political thought and history cur11 riculum.’’. 

Æ 


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