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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing titled, “How the Global Engagement Center Censored Americans.”

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-Remarks- 

This subcommittee is tasked with examining the public diplomacy functions of the State Department, commonly referred to as the R family of bureaus and offices. In December of 2024, Congress terminated an office within that family—the Global Engagement Center, also known as GEC—after its exposure coming out of an investigation that was done by this committee. The GEC was initially authorized for the statutory purpose of countering foreign propaganda and disinformation efforts.

Despite that mandate, for years the GEC instead deployed its shadowy network of grantees and sub-grantees to facilitate the censorship of American voices—especially if those voices were conservative and refused to align with the left-leaning establishment politics. Worst of all, this was being done using U.S. taxpayer dollars—your dollars.

In the same month the GEC was terminated, the Biden State Department restructured the office into a “counter-foreign information manipulation and interference hub,” also known as R-FIMI. The question we will be exploring today is whether this restructuring is actually in name only. Put simply: whether you call it GEC or R-FIMI, the State Department should never—and if I can help it, will never again—be in the business of silencing American voices.

Freedom of speech is a God-given right enshrined in the First Amendment of our nation’s Constitution. It is a right that President Trump and his administration are committed to zealously protecting. On his first day in office, President Trump signed the Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship executive order. This executive order makes clear that no federal government employees or taxpayer dollars may be used to engage in or facilitate the unconstitutional censorship of American citizens.

As the chairman of the subcommittee, I plan to introduce legislation that will codify that executive order. I’m hopeful that my colleagues will join me in enshrining these vital First Amendment protections into law.

I want to thank the panel for being here today. Ms. Jankowitz, thank you for your time. You publicly supported and even spearheaded censorship efforts under the previous administration—out of what some called the “Ministry of Truth.” Some had labeled you the Disinformation Czar—or I guess technically, Czarina. It is crucial that the American public receive answers and accountability for the actions taken by their own government to silence their voices.

Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Weingarten, your valiant reporting helped unearth the GEC’s role in the censorship of Americans. Mr. Taibbi, your groundbreaking work on the Twitter Files pulled back the curtain on how the federal bureaucracy colluded with—and in some cases pressured—social media companies to target American citizens engaged in protected political speech. Mr. Weingarten, your impactful work has unearthed how the GEC and its implementing partners deployed blacklists to obliterate conservative news publications—publications that the Biden administration disagreed with.

We, as Americans and as policymakers, must never allow these dark days of mass censorship to happen again. That is my goal.

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