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For Immediate Release
Contact: massie.press@mail.house.gov
Contact #: 202-225-3465

Today, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced HR 5704, the Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013, to protect American audiences from the domestic dissemination of federally funded propaganda by the State Department, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), and their component networks. 

"The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, legislation that ended a prohibition on the federal government exposing American audiences to its propaganda," said Rep. Thomas Massie. "I voted against that NDAA, and I offered an amendment to the 2026 NDAA to reinstate the original prohibition, but Speaker Johnson blocked a vote. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act needs to be repealed. Taxpayer-funded fake news should not be used by the federal government to wage influence campaigns against the American people."

The Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013:

• Repeals the 2013 Smith-Mundt Modernization Act to restore the longstanding firewall prohibiting federal domestic propaganda.
• Stops the domestic dissemination of propaganda by the State Department, United States Agency for Global Media, and their component networks.
• Creates a secure mechanism for oversight by allowing Members of Congress and accredited media to review propaganda materials sent overseas, without enabling those materials to be exploited against the American people.
• Prevents clandestine online influence operations by prohibiting the State Department and USAGM from creating covert social media accounts, websites, or podcasts to target Americans.
• Requires archiving of propaganda materials at the National Archives with 20 years of delayed public access and added disclaimers identifying both the U.S. government as the source of the materials and also the foreign audience for which the materials were intended.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) is an original cosponsor and co-lead of the Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013.  

The text of the Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013 is available at this link.  

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