{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-top-appropriators-demand-white-house-immediately-remove-taxpayer-funded-ad-promoting-trump-off-the-air", "Reed, Top Appropriators Demand White House Immediately Remove Taxpayer-Funded Ad Promoting Trump Off the Air", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", "jackreed", "https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee an U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) along with U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member, and U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on FSGG, sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles demanding the Trump Administration immediately remove off the air a taxpayer-funded political ad self-promoting President Trump\u2014and report to the Committees exactly how many taxpayer dollars were spent creating and airing the illegal political propaganda.\n\n\u201cThis is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and utterly illegal misuse of Americans\u2019 hard-earned tax dollars,\u201d write the lawmakers, who note the ad constitutes a blatant violation of Section 718 of Division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, which forbids any federal funding from supporting propaganda, in addition to other federal laws.\n\n\u201cWe write to demand that you immediately take this ad off the air and appropriately reprimand and discipline the Federal employees who knowingly violated Federal law in working on and paying for this advertisement. In addition, we demand a full account and breakdown of all Federal funds used to create and air this ad,\u201d they continue. \u201cThe law is not complicated. You cannot use taxpayer dollars for political advertisements.\u201d\n\nThe full text of the letter follows:\n\nThe Honorable Susan Wiles\n\nChief of Staff\n\nThe White House\n\n1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, DC 20500\n\nCc: The Honorable Russell T. Vought, Director, Office of Management and Budget\n\nMs. Wiles:\n\nLast night, Fox News aired a government-sponsored political ad that was \u201cPaid for by the U.S. Government\u201d\u2014otherwise known as the American taxpayers. The ad celebrates President Trump with a montage of photos of him and the American flag as singers repeat the words \u201clove me\u201d from JMSN\u2019s song \u201cLove Me.\u201d[1] If President Trump wants people to love him, he can pay for it himself.\n\nThis is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans\u2019 hard-earned tax dollars. This ad is a violation of section 718 of division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, a longstanding general provision prohibiting any taxpayer funds from being used to produce government propaganda. Section 718 states that, \u201cNo part of any appropriation contained in the act or any other Act shall be used directly or indirectly, including through a private contractor, for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress.\u201d It is also apparently a violation of Federal ethics laws, including the Hatch Act.\n\nWe write to demand that you immediately take this ad off the air and appropriately reprimand and discipline the Federal employees who knowingly violated Federal law in working on and paying for this advertisement. In addition, we demand a full account and breakdown of all Federal funds used to create and air this ad.\n\nAs you are aware, this is not the first time this administration has violated anti-propaganda law[2]. It is unconscionable that repeated violations of appropriations law continue to occur during this Administration, and those violations underscore the failure of the Office of Management and Budget to safeguard taxpayer funding and to consistently and faithfully ensure compliance with the law. No taxpayer funding should be used to air this outrageous propaganda.\n\nThe law is not complicated. You cannot use taxpayer dollars for political advertisements.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "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://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-top-appropriators-demand-white-house-immediately-remove-taxpayer-funded-ad-promoting-trump-off-the-air"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9272840581834316, "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"}