I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2080
To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral history
resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Ms. S
ALAZAR(for herself, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Ms.
M
ALLIOTAKIS, Ms. DELACRUZ, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Mr. LAMALFA,
Mr. L
AWLER, Mr. SMITHof New Jersey, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Flor-
ida, Mr. R
UTHERFORD, Mr. OWENS, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mrs. HINSON)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and Workforce
A BILL
To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum
and oral history resources regarding certain political
ideologies, 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 ‘‘Crucial Communism 4
Teaching Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6
The purposes of this Act are the following: 7
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(1) To help families, civic institutions, local 1
communities, local educational agencies, high 2
schools, and State educational agencies to prepare 3
high school students to be civically responsible and 4
knowledgeable adults. 5
(2) To ensure that high school students in the 6
United States— 7
(A) learn that communism has led to the 8
deaths of over 100,000,000 victims worldwide; 9
(B) understand the dangers of communism 10
and similar political ideologies; and 11
(C) understand that 1,500,000,000 people 12
still suffer under communism. 13
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF CIVIC EDU-14
CATION CURRICULUM AND ORAL HISTORY 15
RESOURCES. 16
The independent entity created under section 17
905(b)(1)(B) of the FRIENDSHIP Act (40 U.S.C. 8903 18
note; 107 Stat. 2331 note), also known as the ‘‘Victims 19
of Communism Memorial Foundation’’, shall— 20
(1) develop a civic education curriculum for 21
high school students that— 22
(A) includes a comparative discussion of 23
certain political ideologies, including com-24
munism and totalitarianism, that conflict with 25
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the principles of freedom and democracy that 1
are essential to the founding of the United 2
States; 3
(B) is updated periodically to ensure the 4
curriculum includes both past and present com-5
munist and totalitarian regimes, with a focus 6
on— 7
(i) ongoing human rights abuses by 8
such regimes, such as the treatment of 9
Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-10
mous Region (XUAR) by the People’s Re-11
public of China; and 12
(ii) aggression by such regimes 13
against democratic nations and democracy, 14
such as actions taken by the People’s Re-15
public of China to deter pro-democracy 16
protests in Hong Kong and the increas-17
ingly aggressive posture by the People’s 18
Republic of China toward Taiwan, a demo-19
cratic friend of the United States. 20
(C) is accurate, relevant, and accessible, so 21
as to promote the understanding of such polit-22
ical ideologies; and 23
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(D) is compatible with a variety of courses, 1
including social studies, government, history, 2
and economics classes; 3
(2) develop oral history resources that may be 4
used alongside the curriculum described in para-5
graph (1) and that include personal stories, titled 6
‘‘Portraits in Patriotism’’, from diverse individuals 7
who— 8
(A) demonstrate civic-minded qualities; 9
(B) are victims of the political ideologies 10
described in paragraph (1)(A); and 11
(C) are able to compare the political 12
ideologies described in paragraph (1)(A) with 13
the political ideology of the United States; and 14
(3) engage with State and local educational 15
leaders to assist high schools in using the curriculum 16
described in paragraph (1) and the resources de-17
scribed in paragraph (2). 18
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 19
The terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and 20
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall 21
apply to this Act. 22
Æ
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