FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to stop "propaganda" in America in the name of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, plans to introduce the Charlie Kirk Act, which would halt the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from disseminating media, such as radio shows, videos and websites, to influence Americans.
Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital that from the end of World War II to former President Barack Obama’s second term, the USAGM, which is an apparatus of the State Department, was barred from distributing media within the U.S.
Lee argued that until 2013, it was illegal to "target American citizens with propaganda."
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Charlie Kirk speaks at CPAC in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
"In 2013, these protections were taken away," Lee said. "My legislation restores this safeguard under the name of an American martyr for freedom of speech and freedom of thought: Charlie Kirk."
"As Charlie’s vital work so ably demonstrated, Americans can figure out the truth for themselves without government telling them what to believe," he continued.
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Sen. Mike Lee speaks during a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Center on Oct. 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Lee’s bill would add stronger guardrails to the Cold War-era Smith-Mundt Act, which was initially designed to promote the U.S. around the globe. However, the law was tweaked in 2012 to allow the materials produced by the agency to be made available in America.
The Charlie Kirk Act would prevent media produced by the agency from being shown in the U.S. right away, instead effectively embargoing it in the U.S. for 12 years. It would also prevent the agency from using the media it produces from influencing Americans.
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The USAGM is an apparatus of the State Department. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Lee’s latest legislation is not the first bill he’s introduced to honor Kirk, who was assassinated in Orem, Utah, last week.
His resolution condemning that act of political violence passed unanimously in the Senate this week.
"This is just a flag planted on a hill," Lee said on X. "What matters is where we carry it next."