Love America Act of 2021
Bill: S.2470 | Sponsor: Sen. Hawley, Josh (R-MO)
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Love America Act of 2021
This bill places restrictions on federal funding to local and state educational agencies and elementary and secondary schools. Specifically, the bill prohibits an educational agency or school from receiving federal funds if the agency or school (1) does not require students to read specified texts at certain grade levels, or (2) teaches that certain documents (e.g., the Constitution) are products of white supremacy or racism.

To prohibit Federal funding for educational agencies and schools whose 
 students do not read certain foundational texts of the United States 
 and are not able to recite those texts or that teach that those texts 
               are products of white supremacy or racism.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Love America Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since the founding of the United States, the 
        institutions of the United States of America have set the 
        worldwide standard for promoting democracy, freedom, liberty, 
        and virtue.
            (2) Increasingly, students across the country are being 
        taught misinformation, including that the principles of the 
        founding of the United States were lies from the start, that 
        the core institutions of the United States are fundamentally 
        racist and designed to propagate racism, and that it is 
        acceptable to impute guilt to present-day individuals based on 
        the color of their skin, rather than the content of their 
        character.
            (3) The best antidote to misinformation is the truth, which 
        is reflected in the documents relating to the founding of the 
        United States and other artifacts of the United States, 
        including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of 
        the United States, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

SEC. 3. POLICY.

     It is the policy of the United States that students in elementary 
and secondary school should know the truth about the history and 
documents relating to the founding of the United States, which express 
the principles that unite the people of the United States, including 
the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, 
and the Pledge of Allegiance.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF EDUCATIONAL AGENCY OR SCHOOL.

    In this Act, the term ``educational agency or school'' means--
            (1) an elementary school, as defined in section 8101 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        7801);
            (2) a secondary school, as defined in such section;
            (3) a local educational agency, as defined in such section; 
        or
            (4) a State educational agency, as defined in such section.

SEC. 5. RESTRICTIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS TO EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND 
              SCHOOLS.

    (a) Restriction on Federal Funds.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, Federal funds shall only be provided to an 
educational agency or school in which--
            (1) students in the first grade read and are able to recite 
        the Pledge of Allegiance;
            (2) students in the fourth grade read the Constitution of 
        the United States and are able to recite its preamble;
            (3) students in the eighth grade read the Declaration of 
        Independence and are able to recite its preamble; and
            (4) students in the tenth grade read and are able to 
        identify the Bill of Rights.
    (b) Restriction on Federal Funds for Teaching That Certain 
Documents Are Products of White Supremacy or Racism.--Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no Federal funds shall be provided to an 
educational agency or school that teaches that the Pledge of 
Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution of the 
United States is a product of white supremacy or racism.

SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit any right of 
students guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States.
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