{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415155", "CatholicVote article on the PROTECT Our Kids Act'House passes bill to prevent China's communist teachings in American schools'", "2025-12-05", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Elise Winland\n\nPublished December 5, 2025\n\nThe House approved legislation Dec. 4 to bar federal funding from any K-12 school that receives money from the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC), as lawmakers sharpen scrutiny of Beijing\u2019s attempts to influence American education.\n\nThe measure, the PROTECT Our Kids Act (HR 1069), passed by a vote of 247-164, with all 164 opposing votes coming from Democrats.\n\nRepublican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, a Catholic, said the bill, which was introduced by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., is needed to counter the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) \u201cpervasive and insidious influence\u201d in U.S. classrooms. He argued the measure would help shield students from CCP propaganda and bolster national security.\n\n\u201cThe PROTECT Our Kids Act is a vital tool for helping to stop the spread of the PRC\u2019s lies about communism and the operations of the Chinese government, as well as promote the importance of protecting national security interests in America\u2019s schools,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis legislation helps ensure that American students can no longer be misled and misinformed by foreign governments, such as the PRC, about the empty promises of communism.\u201d\n\nShutterstock\n\nThe House also advanced a related bill Dec. 3. Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, introduced the Combatting the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act, which passed with 242 votes.\n\nJoyce\u2019s bill would bar federally funded schools from accepting money or contracts from the Chinese government or its affiliates and would require schools to disclose any foreign funding to the Department of Education. He said the legislation responds to China\u2019s expanding attempts to shape American classrooms.\n\n\u201cThe CCP\u2019s attempts to shape narratives in our classrooms threaten the fairness and independence of American education,\u201d he said. \u201cGiven China\u2019s growing influence in education worldwide, taking commonsense steps to protect our children and safeguard the integrity of our school systems is essential.\u201d\n\nThe legislation comes amid heightened concern over what Smith has called the CCP\u2019s \u201cwar on religion.\u201d Earlier this year, Beijing detained about 30 leaders of the underground Zion Church, including well-known pastor Mingri \u201cEzra\u201d Jin, whose family holds U.S. citizenship. Catholic dissident Jimmy Lai has similarly spent nearly five years in a Hong Kong prison and still awaits sentencing.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415155"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6316268593072891, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}