II 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION S. 227 To prohibit the use of certain American History and Civics Education pro- gram funds for curriculum, or teaching or counseling, that promotes or compels a divisive concept under the priorities noticed in the proposed rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to Proposed Priorities-American History and Civics Education. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY23, 2025 Mr. R ISCH(for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. SHEEHY, and Ms. LUMMIS) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To prohibit the use of certain American History and Civics Education program funds for curriculum, or teaching or counseling, that promotes or compels a divisive con- cept under the priorities noticed in the proposed rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to Proposed Priorities-American History and Civics Edu- cation. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S227.IS S227 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 227 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Equality And 2 Civics Education Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘PEACE Act of 3 2025’’. 4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS. 5 Section 2231 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-6 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661) is amended by add-7 ing at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(c) P ROHIBITION.— 9 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL.—None of the funds made 10 available to carry out this subpart may be used to 11 fund curriculum, or teaching or counseling, that pro-12 motes or compels a divisive concept under the prior-13 ities noticed in the proposed rule submitted by the 14 Department of Education relating to Proposed Pri-15 orities-American History and Civics Education (pub-16 lished at 86 Fed. Reg. 20348 (April 19, 2021)). 17 ‘‘(2) D EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 ‘‘(A) P ROMOTES OR COMPELS A DIVISIVE 19 CONCEPT.—The term ‘promotes or compels a 20 divisive concept’, means race stereotyping or 21 race scapegoating, or promotion of one or more 22 of the following concepts: 23 ‘‘(i) One race is inherently superior to 24 another race. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S227.IS S227 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 227 IS ‘‘(ii) The United States is fundamen-1 tally racist. 2 ‘‘(iii) An individual, by virtue of his or 3 her race, is inherently racist or oppressive, 4 whether consciously or unconsciously. 5 ‘‘(iv) An individual should be discrimi-6 nated against or receive adverse treatment 7 solely or partly because of his or her race. 8 ‘‘(v) Members of one race cannot and 9 should not attempt to treat others without 10 respect to race. 11 ‘‘(vi) An individual’s moral character 12 is necessarily determined by his or her 13 race. 14 ‘‘(vii) An individual, by virtue of his 15 or her race, bears responsibility for actions 16 committed in the past by other members of 17 the same race. 18 ‘‘(viii) Any individual should feel dis-19 comfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form 20 of psychological distress on account of his 21 or her race. 22 ‘‘(ix) Meritocracy or traits such as a 23 hard work ethic are racist, or were created 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S227.IS S227 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 227 IS by a particular race to oppress another 1 race. 2 ‘‘(B) The term ‘race scapegoating’ means 3 assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race, or to 4 members of a race because of their race. 5 ‘‘(C) The term ‘race stereotyping’ means 6 ascribing character traits, values, moral and 7 ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a 8 race, or to an individual because of the individ-9 ual’s race.’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S227.IS S227 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB