The following article is a supplement to the MRC Report: The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship Initiatives.
Initiative #12 The NDAA Signing Statement
Type of Censorship: Direct Action
Agencies Involved:
- Executive Office of the President
- Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
- White House Office
- President Joe Biden
Summary:
The Biden administration encouraged violation of a congressional statute limiting its financing of censorship outfits.
After years of funnelling money to so-called arbiters of truth like NewsGuard, Friends of Europe and The Poynter Institute, Congress acted to restrict such transactions in the future. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 prohibited Defense Department dollars from being spent on ad placement services which used censorship tools.
In his official signing statement, President Joe Biden implied that the First Amendment may prevent the government from blocking censorship outfits from receiving federal funds (it does not). Biden announced he would only “implement the certification…consistent with” this atextual view.
This signing statement indirectly encouraged agencies not to comply with the law, and to instead continue the taxpayer-financed blacklisting of right-leaning and other Biden-skeptical media.
Key Individuals:
- Joe Biden, President of the United States
- Shalanda Young, OMB Director
- Jeff Zients, White House Chief of Staff
