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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast issued the following statement in response to Secretary Rubio’s actions to protect free speech and ensure that the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office—formerly the Global Engagement Center (GEC)—remains relegated to the dustbin of history.

“The GEC was an un-American assault on free speech and a chilling warning about what can happen when far-left ideology takes root in the very institution charged with promoting our values abroad,” Chairman Mast said. “Secretary Rubio is taking the decisive action needed to ensure taxpayer dollars are not being used to silence American voices. Congress will codify permanent First Amendment safeguards into law to ensure the State Department will never again be able to censor Americans.”

Last Congress, Chairman Mast led a subcommittee hearing and released an Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee report exposing the GEC’s censorship of Americans. Following the Republican-led effort to abolish the GEC, the Biden State Department restructured the office under the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office, continuing its censorship mission against the will of the American People.

Earlier this month, the South and Central Asia Subcommittee—which oversees the State Department’s R family of bureaus and offices—held a hearing to further examine the activities of both the GEC and the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference office in censoring Americans.

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