{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://owens.house.gov/posts/rep-owens-charlie-act-passes-out-of-committee", "Rep. Owens\u2019 CHARLIE Act Passes Out of Committee", "2026-05-21", "2026", "2026-05", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Burgess Owens", "O000086", "owens.house.gov", "owens", "https://owens.house.gov/press", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Vice Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee Rep. Burgess Owens\u2019 (UT-04) Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity, and Education Act, H.R. 8705, or the CHARLIE Act, was successfully passed by the House Education and Workforce Committee.\n\nThe CHARLIE Act amends Section 2231 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to prohibit any funds available through the American History and Civics Education program from being used to promote \u201cdiscriminatory equity ideology\u201d or \u201cgender ideology,\u201d as defined by Executive Orders 14190 and 14168 signed by President Trump.\n\nCurrently, American students are woefully ignorant of basic civics and history. A 2024 survey of over 3,000 undergraduates conducted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and College Pulse found that:\n\n40% of students believe that Senators serve four-year terms\n\n75% of students did not know that the Constitution does not specify the number of justices on the Supreme Court\n\n51% of the students surveyed believe the Constitution was written in 1776\n\nIn April 2021, the Biden administration sought to push their radical ideologies through this program funded by taxpayers. They published proposed grant priorities for the program that explicitly cited the debunked New York Times\u2019 1619 Project and anti-racism activist Ibram X. Kendi as their inspiration. Their proposal called for grants to create \u201clearning experiences that validate and reflect the diversity, identities, histories, contributions, and experiences of all students.\u201d\n\nAfter this proposal, every Republican member of the Education Committee, including Rep. Owens, joined a letter with then Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (NC-05) calling on then Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to remove their priorities to promote Critical Race Theory and their advocacy of racist and divisive ideology. Instead of stopping their partisan efforts, the Department and Administration returned with more subtle tactics and still prioritized grants for programs promoting DEI instruction over traditional civics instruction.\n\n\u201cAs our nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of our independence, it\u2019s more important now that our children understand the history of our great nation and the principles that founded it. They should be going to school to get educated, not indoctrinated. Thomas Jefferson understood that our nation could never be ignorant and free. At a time when political violence is on the rise, we should be strengthening shared values and national unity. The CHARLIE Act ensures that taxpayer dollars Congress set aside to educate the next generation about the incredible inheritance our Founders provided are free from the radical ideological spin the left sought to champion.\u201d\n\nRep. Burgess Owens\n\n\u201cH.R. 8705, Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity, and Education Act, introduced by Rep. Burgess Owens, ensures that the American History and Civics program stays true to its purpose\u2014educating students about America\u2019s rich civic inheritance, the importance of our Founding, and the value of respectful civil dialogue through the free exchange of ideas. The Biden-Harris administration attempted to radicalize this bipartisan program. Today\u2019s bill sends a clear message that it was wrong\u2014children should be educated in civics, not indoctrinated.\u201d\n\nChairman Walberg\n\nWhat the CHARLIE Act Does\n\nProhibits Radical Indoctrination: Bars American History and Civics funds from being used for \u201cdiscriminatory equity ideology\u201d or \u201cgender ideology,\u201d as defined by President Trump\u2019s executive orders on ending radical indoctrination in K\u201312 schooling.\n\nEnds Preferential Grant Awards: Prohibits the Secretary of Education from giving grant priority on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status \u2014 ensuring civics funding goes to the best programs, not the most politically favored ones.\n\n###", 1, "2026-05-22T06:27:39Z", "2026-05-22T06:29:18Z"]], "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://owens.house.gov/posts/rep-owens-charlie-act-passes-out-of-committee"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0057140607386827, "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"}