| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1001 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral history |
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| 6 | 6 | | resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | MARCH12, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. K |
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| 10 | 10 | | ENNEDY(for himself, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, and Mr. SCHMITT) intro- |
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| 11 | 11 | | duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- |
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| 12 | 12 | | mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum |
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| 15 | 15 | | and oral history resources regarding certain political |
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| 16 | 16 | | ideologies, and for other purposes. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crucial Communism 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Teaching Act’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | The purposes of this Act are the following: 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (1) To help families, civic institutions, local 8 |
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| 25 | 25 | | communities, local educational agencies, high 9 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 1001 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | schools, and State educational agencies to prepare 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | high school students to be civically responsible and 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | knowledgeable adults. 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (2) To ensure that high school students in the 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | United States— 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (A) learn that communism has led to the 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | deaths of more than 100,000,000 victims world-7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | wide; 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (B) understand the dangers of communism 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | and similar political ideologies; and 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (C) understand that 1,500,000,000 people 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | still suffer under communism. 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF CIVIC EDU-13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | CATION CURRICULUM AND ORAL HISTORY 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | RESOURCES. 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | The independent entity created under section 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | 905(b)(1)(B) of the FRIENDSHIP Act (Public Law 103– 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | 199; 107 Stat. 2331), also known as the ‘‘Victims of Com-18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | munism Memorial Foundation’’, shall— 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (1) develop a civic education curriculum for 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | high school students that— 21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (A) includes a comparative discussion of 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | certain political ideologies, including com-23 |
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| 52 | 52 | | munism and totalitarianism, that conflict with 24 |
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| 53 | 53 | | the principles of freedom and democracy that 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | •S 1001 IS |
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| 57 | 57 | | are essential to the founding of the United 1 |
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| 58 | 58 | | States; 2 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (B) is accurate, relevant, and accessible, so 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | as to promote the understanding of such polit-4 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ical ideologies; and 5 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (C) is compatible with a variety of courses, 6 |
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| 63 | 63 | | including social studies, government, history, 7 |
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| 64 | 64 | | and economics classes; 8 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (2) develop oral history resources that may be 9 |
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| 66 | 66 | | used alongside the curriculum described in para-10 |
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| 67 | 67 | | graph (1) and that include personal stories, titled 11 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘Portraits in Patriotism’’, from diverse individuals 12 |
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| 69 | 69 | | who— 13 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (A) demonstrate civic-minded qualities; 14 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (B) are victims of the political ideologies 15 |
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| 72 | 72 | | described in paragraph (1)(A); and 16 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (C) are able to compare the political 17 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ideologies described in paragraph (1)(A) with 18 |
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| 75 | 75 | | the political ideology of the United States; and 19 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (3) engage with State and local educational 20 |
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| 77 | 77 | | leaders to assist high schools in using the curriculum 21 |
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| 78 | 78 | | described in paragraph (1) and the resources de-22 |
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| 79 | 79 | | scribed in paragraph (2). 23 |
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| 82 | 82 | | •S 1001 IS |
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| 83 | 83 | | SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 1 |
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| 84 | 84 | | The terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and 2 |
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| 85 | 85 | | Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall 3 |
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| 86 | 86 | | apply to this Act. 4 |
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| 87 | 87 | | Æ |
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