I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 140 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit Federal employees from 

advocating for censorship of viewpoints in their official capacity, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. COMER (for himself, Mr. JORDAN, and Mrs. RODGERS of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit Federal 

employees from advocating for censorship of viewpoints 

in their official capacity, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Speech 

5 from Government Interference Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSOR2 SHIP. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 5, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON 

7 FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP 

8 ‘‘§ 7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censor9 ship 

10 ‘‘It is the policy of the Congress that employees act11 ing in their official capacity should neither take action 

12 within their authority or influence to promote the censor13 ship of any speech, nor advocate that a third party, includ14 ing a private entity, censor such speech. 

15 ‘‘§ 7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee may not— 

17 ‘‘(1) use the employee’s official authority or in18 fluence to advocate that any third party, including 

19 a private entity, take any action to censor any 

20 speech; 

21 ‘‘(2) knowingly censor or discourage the exer22 cise of speech of any person who— 

23 ‘‘(A) has an application for any compensa24 tion, grant, contract, ruling, license, permit, or 

25 certificate pending before the employing office 

26 of such employee; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) is the subject of or a participant in 

2 an ongoing audit, investigation, or enforcement 

3 action being carried out by the employing office 

4 of such employee; or 

5 ‘‘(3) engage in censorship— 

6 ‘‘(A) while the employee is on duty; 

7 ‘‘(B) in any room or building occupied in 

8 the discharge of official duties by an individual 

9 employed or holding office in the Government of 

10 the United States or any agency or instrumen11 tality thereof; 

12 ‘‘(C) while wearing a uniform or official in13 signia identifying the office or position of the 

14 employee; or 

15 ‘‘(D) using any vehicle owned or leased by 

16 the Government of the United States or any 

17 agency or instrumentality thereof. 

18 ‘‘(b) FURTHER RESTRICTED EMPLOYEES.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An employee described in 

20 paragraph (2) may not knowingly censor or discour21 age the exercise of speech of a person at any time, 

22 including outside normal duty hours and while such 

23 employee is away from their normal duty post. 


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1 ‘‘(2) FURTHER RESTRICTED EMPLOYEE DE2 SCRIBED.—The provisions of paragraph (1) shall 

3 apply to any employee— 

4 ‘‘(A) whose duties and responsibilities of 

5 the employee’s position continue outside normal 

6 duty hours and while away from the normal 

7 duty post; and 

8 ‘‘(B) who is— 

9 ‘‘(i) an employee paid from an appro10 priation for the Executive Office of the 

11 President; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) an employee appointed by the 

13 President, by and with the advice and con14 sent of the Senate, whose position is lo15 cated within the United States, who deter16 mines policies to be pursued by the United 

17 States in relations with foreign powers or 

18 in the nationwide administration of Fed19 eral laws. 

20 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con21 strued to prohibit an employee from engaging in lawful 

22 actions within the official authority of such employee for 

23 the purpose of exercising legitimate law enforcement func24 tions directly related to activities to combat child pornog25 raphy, human trafficking, or the illegal transporting of or 


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1 transacting in controlled substances and safeguarding, or 

2 preventing, the unlawful dissemination of properly classi3 fied national security information. 

4 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES.—An employee who violates this sec5 tion shall be subject to— 

6 ‘‘(1) disciplinary action consisting of removal, 

7 reduction in grade, debarment from Federal employ8 ment for a period not to exceed 5 years, suspension, 

9 or reprimand; 

10 ‘‘(2) an assessment of a civil penalty not to ex11 ceed $10,000; or 

12 ‘‘(3) any combination of the penalties described 

13 in paragraph (1) or (2). 

14 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced 

15 in the same manner as subchapter III of this chapter. 

16 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this subchapter— 

17 ‘‘(1) the term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means or18 dering or advocating for— 

19 ‘‘(A) the removal or suppression of lawful 

20 speech, in whole or in part, from or on any 

21 platform (including an interactive computer 

22 service); 

23 ‘‘(B) the addition of any disclaimer, infor24 mation, or other alert to such speech being exVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:25 Jan 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H140.IH H140

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1 pressed on any platform (including an inter2 active computer service); or 

3 ‘‘(C) the removal or restriction of access of 

4 any person on any platform (including an inter5 active computer service) generally available to 

6 the public, unless such person is engaged in 

7 criminal activities; 

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘employee’ has the meaning given 

9 that term in section 7322; and 

10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘interactive computer service’ has 

11 the meaning given that term in section 230(f) of the 

12 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)).’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

15 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP

‘‘7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censorship. 

‘‘7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship.’’. 

16 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

17 any amendment made by this Act, or the application of 

18 a provision of this Act or an amendment made by this 

19 Act to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconsti20 tutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application 

21 of the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not 

22 be affected by the holding. 

Æ 


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