I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3242 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve the American 

History for Freedom grant program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2021 

Mr. BLUMENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve 

the American History for Freedom grant 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 ‘‘Understanding and 

5 Studying American Civics Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘USA 

6 Civics Act of 2021’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMERICAN CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

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

9 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 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, once every 3 years 

11 and on a competitive basis,’’; 

12 (C) by striking paragraph (1) and insert13 ing the following: 

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

15 (D) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘or’’ after 

16 the semicolon; 

17 (E) 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; or’’; and 

22 (F) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(4) the means of participation in political and 

24 civic life.’’; 

25 (3) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘as de2 fined in section 101.’’ and inserting ‘‘, or a 

3 partnership that includes an institution of high4 er education and one or more nonprofit organi5 zations, whose missions and demonstrated ex6 pertise are consistent with the purpose of this 

7 section.’’; 

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

9 emerged’’ and all that follows through the pe10 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘founded on the 

11 principles of representative democracy, constitu12 tional government, individual rights, market ec13 onomics, religious freedom and religious toler14 ance, and freedom of thought and inquiry.’’; 

15 and 

16 (C) by striking paragraph (3) and insert17 ing the following: 

18 ‘‘(3) AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT AND HIS19 TORY.—The term ‘American political thought and 

20 history’ means— 

21 ‘‘(A) the significant constitutional, polit22 ical, intellectual, economic, social, and foreign 

23 policy trends and issues that have shaped the 

24 course of American history; and 


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

2 texts, and figures involved in the constitutional, 

3 political, intellectual, diplomatic, social, and 

4 economic history of the United States.’’; 

5 (4) in subsection (c)(2)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tra7 ditional’’ and all that follows through the semi8 colon and inserting ‘‘American political thought 

9 and history, free institutions, the impact of 

10 American representative democracy and con11 stitutional democracies globally, or the means of 

12 participation in political and civic life;’’; and 

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

14 which may include the creation or use of open 

15 educational resources’’ after ‘‘subsection 

16 (e)(1)(B)’’; 

17 (5) in subsection (d)— 

18 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and insert19 ing the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) increase access to quality programming 

21 that expands knowledge of American political 

22 thought and history, free institutions, the impact of 

23 American representative democracy and constitu24 tional democracies globally, or the means of partici25 pation in political and civic life;’’; and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘tradi2 tional American history, free institutions, or 

3 Western civilization’’ and inserting ‘‘American 

4 political thought and history, free institutions, 

5 the impact of American representative democ6 racy and constitutional democracies globally, or 

7 the means of participation in political and civic 

8 life.’’; 

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

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USE OF FUNDS.—Funds pro13 vided under this section shall be used— 

14 ‘‘(A) for collaboration with local edu15 cational agencies for the purpose of providing 

16 elementary school and secondary school teach17 ers an opportunity to enhance their knowledge 

18 of American political thought and history, free 

19 institutions, the impact of American representa20 tive democracy and constitutional democracies 

21 globally, or the means of participation in polit22 ical and civic life; and 

23 ‘‘(B) to carry out one or more of the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Establishing or strengthening 

2 academic programs or centers focused on 

3 American political thought and history, 

4 free institutions, the impact of American 

5 representative democracy and constitu6 tional democracies globally, or the means 

7 of participation in political and civic life, 

8 which may include— 

9 ‘‘(I) design and implementation 

10 of programs of study, courses, lecture 

11 series, seminars, and symposia; 

12 ‘‘(II) development, publication, 

13 and dissemination of instructional ma14 terials; 

15 ‘‘(III) research; 

16 ‘‘(IV) support for faculty teach17 ing in undergraduate and, if applica18 ble, graduate programs; or 

19 ‘‘(V) support for graduate and 

20 postgraduate fellowships, if applicable. 

21 ‘‘(ii) For teacher preparation initia22 tives that stress content mastery regarding 

23 American political thought and history, 

24 free institutions, the impact of American 

25 representative democracy and constituVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242

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1 tional democracies globally, or the means 

2 of participation in political and civic life. 

3 ‘‘(iii) To conduct outreach activities to 

4 ensure that information about the activi5 ties funded under this section is widely dis6 seminated— 

7 ‘‘(I) to undergraduate students 

8 (including students enrolled in teacher 

9 education programs, if applicable); 

10 ‘‘(II) to graduate students (in11 cluding students enrolled in teacher 

12 education programs, if applicable); 

13 ‘‘(III) to faculty; 

14 ‘‘(IV) to local educational agen15 cies; and 

16 ‘‘(V) within the local community. 

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

18 provided under this section may be used to sup19 port— 

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

21 ‘‘(i) nonprofit organizations whose 

22 missions and demonstrated expertise are 

23 consistent with the purpose of this section, 

24 for assistance in carrying out activities de25 scribed under subsection (a); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Federal or State humanities pro2 grams, which may include those funded by 

3 the National Endowment for the Human4 ities; 

5 ‘‘(B) the creation and use of open edu6 cational resources on American political thought 

7 and history, free institutions, or the impact of 

8 American representative democracy and con9 stitutional democracies globally, or the means of 

10 participation in political and civic life; and 

11 ‘‘(C) other activities that meet the pur12 poses of this section.’’; 

13 (7) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub14 section (g); 

15 (8) in subsection (g), as redesignated by para16 graph (7), by striking ‘‘2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2021’’; 

17 and 

18 (9) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec21 tion shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to pre22 scribe an American political thought and history cur23 riculum.’’. 

Æ 


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