USA Civics Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3242 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve the American History for Freedom grant program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2021 Mr. BLUMENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve the American History for Freedom grant program. 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 ‘‘Understanding and 4 Studying American Civics Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘USA 5 Civics Act of 2021’’. 6 SEC. 2. AMERICAN CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAM. 7 Section 805 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 8 U.S.C. 1161e) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3242 IH (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘HIS- 1 TORY FOR FREEDOM’’ and inserting ‘‘CIVICS 2 EDUCATION PROGRAM’’; 3 (2) in subsection (a)— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and insert- 5 ing ‘‘subsection (g)’’; 6 (B) by striking ‘‘the Secretary is author- 7 ized to award three-year grants, on a competi- 8 tive basis,’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary is au- 9 thorized to award grants, once every 3 years 10 and on a competitive basis,’’; 11 (C) by striking paragraph (1) and insert- 12 ing the following: 13 ‘‘(1) American political thought and history;’’; 14 (D) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘or’’ after 15 the semicolon; 16 (E) by striking paragraph (3) and insert- 17 ing the following: 18 ‘‘(3) the history, achievements, and impact of 19 American representative democracy and constitu- 20 tional democracies globally; or’’; and 21 (F) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(4) the means of participation in political and 23 civic life.’’; 24 (3) in subsection (b)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3242 IH (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘as de- 1 fined in section 101.’’ and inserting ‘‘, or a 2 partnership that includes an institution of high- 3 er education and one or more nonprofit organi- 4 zations, whose missions and demonstrated ex- 5 pertise are consistent with the purpose of this 6 section.’’; 7 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘that 8 emerged’’ and all that follows through the pe- 9 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘founded on the 10 principles of representative democracy, constitu- 11 tional government, individual rights, market ec- 12 onomics, religious freedom and religious toler- 13 ance, and freedom of thought and inquiry.’’; 14 and 15 (C) by striking paragraph (3) and insert- 16 ing the following: 17 ‘‘(3) AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT AND HIS- 18 TORY.—The term ‘American political thought and 19 history’ means— 20 ‘‘(A) the significant constitutional, polit- 21 ical, intellectual, economic, social, and foreign 22 policy trends and issues that have shaped the 23 course of American history; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3242 IH ‘‘(B) the key episodes, turning points, 1 texts, and figures involved in the constitutional, 2 political, intellectual, diplomatic, social, and 3 economic history of the United States.’’; 4 (4) in subsection (c)(2)— 5 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tra- 6 ditional’’ and all that follows through the semi- 7 colon and inserting ‘‘American political thought 8 and history, free institutions, the impact of 9 American representative democracy and con- 10 stitutional democracies globally, or the means of 11 participation in political and civic life;’’; and 12 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 13 which may include the creation or use of open 14 educational resources’’ after ‘‘subsection 15 (e)(1)(B)’’; 16 (5) in subsection (d)— 17 (A) by striking paragraph (1) and insert- 18 ing the following: 19 ‘‘(1) increase access to quality programming 20 that expands knowledge of American political 21 thought and history, free institutions, the impact of 22 American representative democracy and constitu- 23 tional democracies globally, or the means of partici- 24 pation in political and civic life;’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3242 IH (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘tradi- 1 tional American history, free institutions, or 2 Western civilization’’ and inserting ‘‘American 3 political thought and history, free institutions, 4 the impact of American representative democ- 5 racy and constitutional democracies globally, or 6 the means of participation in political and civic 7 life.’’; 8 (6) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 9 following: 10 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 11 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED USE OF FUNDS.—Funds pro- 12 vided under this section shall be used— 13 ‘‘(A) for collaboration with local edu- 14 cational agencies for the purpose of providing 15 elementary school and secondary school teach- 16 ers an opportunity to enhance their knowledge 17 of American political thought and history, free 18 institutions, the impact of American representa- 19 tive democracy and constitutional democracies 20 globally, or the means of participation in polit- 21 ical and civic life; and 22 ‘‘(B) to carry out one or more of the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3242 IH ‘‘(i) Establishing or strengthening 1 academic programs or centers focused on 2 American political thought and history, 3 free institutions, the impact of American 4 representative democracy and constitu- 5 tional democracies globally, or the means 6 of participation in political and civic life, 7 which may include— 8 ‘‘(I) design and implementation 9 of programs of study, courses, lecture 10 series, seminars, and symposia; 11 ‘‘(II) development, publication, 12 and dissemination of instructional ma- 13 terials; 14 ‘‘(III) research; 15 ‘‘(IV) support for faculty teach- 16 ing in undergraduate and, if applica- 17 ble, graduate programs; or 18 ‘‘(V) support for graduate and 19 postgraduate fellowships, if applicable. 20 ‘‘(ii) For teacher preparation initia- 21 tives that stress content mastery regarding 22 American political thought and history, 23 free institutions, the impact of American 24 representative democracy and constitu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3242 IH tional democracies globally, or the means 1 of participation in political and civic life. 2 ‘‘(iii) To conduct outreach activities to 3 ensure that information about the activi- 4 ties funded under this section is widely dis- 5 seminated— 6 ‘‘(I) to undergraduate students 7 (including students enrolled in teacher 8 education programs, if applicable); 9 ‘‘(II) to graduate students (in- 10 cluding students enrolled in teacher 11 education programs, if applicable); 12 ‘‘(III) to faculty; 13 ‘‘(IV) to local educational agen- 14 cies; and 15 ‘‘(V) within the local community. 16 ‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—Funds 17 provided under this section may be used to sup- 18 port— 19 ‘‘(A) collaboration with entities such as— 20 ‘‘(i) nonprofit organizations whose 21 missions and demonstrated expertise are 22 consistent with the purpose of this section, 23 for assistance in carrying out activities de- 24 scribed under subsection (a); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3242 IH ‘‘(ii) Federal or State humanities pro- 1 grams, which may include those funded by 2 the National Endowment for the Human- 3 ities; 4 ‘‘(B) the creation and use of open edu- 5 cational resources on American political thought 6 and history, free institutions, or the impact of 7 American representative democracy and con- 8 stitutional democracies globally, or the means of 9 participation in political and civic life; and 10 ‘‘(C) other activities that meet the pur- 11 poses of this section.’’; 12 (7) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 13 section (g); 14 (8) in subsection (g), as redesignated by para- 15 graph (7), by striking ‘‘2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2021’’; 16 and 17 (9) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 20 tion shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to pre- 21 scribe an American political thought and history cur- 22 riculum.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3242.IH H3242 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS