Text of US HB 5527 (2025)

I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5527 To require the Secretary of Defense to restore access to curricula, books, and other learning materials at schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 Mr. RASKIN (for himself, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Ms. JAYAPAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To require the Secretary of Defense to restore access to curricula, books, and other learning materials at schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activ- ity, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Censoring Mili- 4 tary Families Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5527 IH SEC. 2. RESTORATION OF ACCESS TO CURRICULA, BOOKS, 1 AND OTHER LEARNING MATERIALS. 2 (a) RESTORATION AND TEMPORARY LIMITATION ON 3 FURTHER RESTRICTIONS.— 4 (1) RESTORATION.—As soon as practicable 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, but not 6 later than 30 days after such date, the Secretary of 7 Defense shall restore access to all curricula, books, 8 and other learning materials that were available at 9 covered educational institutions before January 20, 10 2025. 11 (2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary of Defense 12 may not take any action that would limit the avail- 13 ability of the materials described in paragraph (1) 14 until after the beginning of the 2026–2027 academic 15 year. 16 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 18 of Defense shall submit to the appropriate congressional 19 committees a report that includes— 20 (1) identification of all curricula, books, or 21 other learning materials identified for potential re- 22 moval pursuant to instructions issued by the Sec- 23 retary of Defense after January 20, 2025; 24 (2) a detailed account of the processes and in- 25 structions used to carry out such actions; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5527 IH (3) in the case of any such actions affecting 1 schools operated by the Department of Defense Edu- 2 cation Activity, an explanation of whether such ac- 3 tions complied with the requirements of section 4 2164a of title 10, United States Code. 5 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) The term ‘‘covered educational institution’’ 7 means a school operated by the Department of De- 8 fense Education Activity. 9 (2) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 10 mittees’’ means— 11 (A) the Committee on Armed Services and 12 the Committee on Education and Workforce of 13 the House of Representatives; and 14 (B) the Committee on Armed Services and 15 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 16 and Pensions of the Senate. 17 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS ON FURTHER RESTRICTIONS TO CUR- 18 RICULA, BOOKS, OTHER LEARNING MATE- 19 RIALS, AND CULTURAL EVENTS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2164 of title 10, United 21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 22 lowing new subsection: 23 ‘‘(n) LIMITATION ON RESTRICTIONS TO CURRICULA, 24 LEARNING MATERIALS, AND CULTURAL EVENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5527 IH ‘‘(1) The Secretary of Defense may not issue 1 any directive affecting the curriculum, program of 2 instruction, administration, or personnel of two or 3 more schools operated by the Department of Defense 4 Education Activity until one year after the following 5 requirements have been met: 6 ‘‘(A) The Secretary has submitted to the 7 School Advisory Committee (or the equivalent 8 advisory body) and Installation Advisory Com- 9 mittee of the schools involved and to the Com- 10 mittees on Armed Services of the Senate and 11 the House of Representatives written notice of 12 the Secretary’s intent to issue such directive to- 13 gether with a description of and justification for 14 the directive. 15 ‘‘(B) Each School Advisory Committee (or 16 the equivalent advisory body) that received the 17 notice under subparagraph (A)— 18 ‘‘(i) with respect to a directive per- 19 taining to curricula or programs of instruc- 20 tion, has voted to initiate the CMRC proc- 21 ess with regard to the directive; or 22 ‘‘(ii) with respect to a directive per- 23 taining to administration or personnel— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5527 IH ‘‘(I) has voted to initiate the 1 CMRC process with regard to the di- 2 rective; or 3 ‘‘(II) in lieu of initiating such 4 process, has conducted a review to de- 5 termine how the directive will affect 6 the school involved, produced a writ- 7 ten response setting forth the results 8 of the review, and approved such re- 9 sponse via an official vote. 10 ‘‘(C) The findings of such process or re- 11 view (as the case may be) were submitted to the 12 Committees on Armed Services of the Senate 13 and the House of Representatives not later 14 than 90 days after the process or review was 15 initiated, and such Committees have had an op- 16 portunity to consider potential legislative re- 17 sponses to the proposed directive. 18 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of Defense may not issue 19 any directive affecting the curriculum, program of 20 instruction, administration, or personnel of two or 21 more schools operated by the Department of Defense 22 Education Activity unless— 23 ‘‘(A) the Secretary submits to the School 24 Advisory Committee (or the equivalent advisory 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5527 IH body) of the schools involved and the Commit- 1 tees on Armed Services of the Senate and the 2 House of Representatives written notice of the 3 Secretary’s intent to issue such directive to- 4 gether with a description of and justification for 5 the directive; and 6 ‘‘(B) a period of 90 days has elapsed fol- 7 lowing the date on which such notice was sub- 8 mitted. 9 ‘‘(3) The requirements of paragraphs (1) and 10 (2) shall apply to directives affecting two or more 11 schools operated by the Department of Defense Edu- 12 cation Activity regardless of whether such directives 13 are issued collectively or separately to individual 14 schools. 15 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Defense may not issue 16 any directive affecting the selection or removal of li- 17 brary resources, textbooks, or other printed or pub- 18 lished instructional materials at any individual 19 school operated by the Department of Defense Edu- 20 cation Activity unless— 21 ‘‘(A) the Secretary submits to the School 22 Advisory Committee (or the equivalent advisory 23 body) of the school involved written notice of 24 the Secretary’s intent to issue such directive to- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5527 IH gether with a description of and justification for 1 the directive; and 2 ‘‘(B) a period of 30 days has elapsed fol- 3 lowing the date on which such notice was sub- 4 mitted. 5 ‘‘(5) The Secretary of Defense may not— 6 ‘‘(A) limit the authority of an individual 7 school to plan or hold commemorative events or 8 cultural events that have been duly approved by 9 the principal, faculty, staff, or School Advisory 10 Committee (or the equivalent) of the school in- 11 volved; or 12 ‘‘(B) withhold funding or take other action 13 against a school solely because such school 14 plans or holds an event described in subpara- 15 graph (A). 16 ‘‘(6) In this subsection, the term ‘CMRC proc- 17 ess’ means the procedures described in Department 18 of Defense Education Activity Administrative In- 19 struction 2992.01 relating to ‘Information Center 20 and Classroom Supplemental Materials Selection 21 Policy and Challenge Procedures’, dated February 22 12, 2010.’’. 23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY.—The 24 amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5527 IH the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply be- 1 ginning with the 2026–2027 academic year for schools op- 2 erated by the Department of Defense Education Activity. 3 SEC. 4. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN EXECUTIVE ORDERS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Executive orders specified in 5 subsection (b) shall have no force or effect with respect 6 to the Department of Defense and no Federal funds may 7 be used to implement or enforce such Executive orders, 8 or any substantially similar directives, within the Depart- 9 ment of Defense. 10 (b) EXECUTIVE ORDERS SPECIFIED.—The Executive 11 orders specified in this subsection are the following: 12 (1) Executive Order 14190 (90 Fed. Reg. 8853; 13 relating to ending radical indoctrination in K–12 14 schooling). 15 (2) Executive Order 14280 (90 Fed. Reg. 16 17533; relating to reinstating commonsense school 17 discipline policies). 18 (3) Executive Order 14281 (90 Fed. Reg 19 17537; relating to restoring equality of opportunity 20 and meritocracy). 21 (4) Executive Order 14185 (90 Fed. Reg. 8763; 22 relating to restoring America’s fighting force). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5527 IH (5) Executive Order 14183 (90 Fed. Reg. 8757; 1 relating to prioritizing military excellence and readi- 2 ness). 3 (6) Executive Order 14168 (90 Fed. Reg. 8615; 4 relating to defending women from gender ideology 5 extremism and restoring biological truth to the Fed- 6 eral Government). 7 (7) Executive Order 14201 (90 Fed. Reg 9279; 8 relating to keeping men out of women’s sports). 9 SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORT ON POTENTIAL ESTABLISH- 10 MENT OF INDEPENDENT BODY TO IMPLE- 11 MENT CURRICULA FOR DODEA SCHOOLS. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 13 United States shall conduct a study to determine the 14 feasability and advisability of establishing an independent 15 body to design and implement educational curricula for 16 schools operated by the Department of Defense Education 17 Activity. The study shall address— 18 (1) how such an independent body could be es- 19 tablished and structured; 20 (2) who should be appointed to such a body; 21 (3) how such body could maintain independence 22 to ensure it is insulated from political influence and 23 changing priorities of the Executive Branch; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 5527 IH (4) such other factors as the Comptroller Gen- 1 eral determines appropriate. 2 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the date 3 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 4 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re- 5 port on the results of the study conducted under sub- 6 section (a). 7 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 8 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- 9 sional committees’’ means— 10 (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the 11 Committee on Education and Workforce of the 12 House of Representatives; and 13 (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the 14 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- 15 sions of the Senate. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5527.IH H5527 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS