Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, announced plans to introduce legislation named in honor of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The bill, titled the Charlie Kirk Act, seeks to prevent the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from producing or distributing media intended to influence American citizens, as reported by Fox News.
The USAGM, an agency under the State Department, oversees outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Historically, its work was directed at foreign audiences.
From the end of World War II until the administration of former President Barack Obama, the agency was prohibited from targeting domestic audiences with its content. That restriction ended in 2013, following changes to the Smith-Mundt Act made the previous year.
Lee argued the reversal created opportunities for government-funded propaganda inside the United States. “In 2013, these protections were taken away,” Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“My legislation restores this safeguard under the name of an American martyr for freedom of speech and freedom of thought: Charlie Kirk.”
The Charlie Kirk Act would impose new restrictions on how USAGM content could be accessed domestically. Under the proposal, materials produced by the agency could not be distributed in the United States for 12 years.
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The measure is designed to prevent agency-produced programming from influencing American political or cultural debates.
Lee emphasized that Americans should not rely on the federal government to shape their views. “As Charlie’s vital work so ably demonstrated, Americans can figure out the truth for themselves without government telling them what to believe,” Lee said.
The bill builds upon the original Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which was enacted during the Cold War to promote the United States abroad while barring propaganda efforts at home.
The 2012 amendment to that law allowed materials produced by USAGM for foreign audiences to be made available in the U.S. for the first time, sparking concerns among critics about potential misuse.
Lee has already sponsored other legislation in response to Kirk’s assassination in Orem, Utah, last week. His Senate resolution condemning the murder passed unanimously earlier this week.
“This is just a flag planted on a hill,” Lee wrote on X. “What matters is where we carry it next.”
The United States Senate has unanimously passed my resolution condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk and praising his outstanding legacy.
This is just a flag, planted on a hill.
What matters is where we carry it next. pic.twitter.com/62rBpiKOuU
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) September 16, 2025
The Charlie Kirk Act is expected to be formally introduced in the Senate in the coming days. If enacted, the legislation would reinstate restrictions that had been in place for decades and add a lengthy embargo on U.S. distribution of content produced by the government’s global media arm.
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