Vote No on H.R. 7661 and Support the Right to Read Act

Vote no on H.R. 7661. This bill passed the House Committee on Education and Workforce on March 17, and it threatens to withhold decades of promised federal funding from schools over vague accusations of "sexually oriented material." The language is so broad it could apply to fine art, history lessons, court cases, or even Virginia's state flag. This isn't about protecting children. H.R. 7661 treats seventeen-year-olds the same as kindergartners and strips parents, local communities, and trained educators of their authority to make decisions about what students read. Instead, it hands that power to politicians in Washington. Representatives from both parties raised concerns that the confusing language would be catastrophic for states to administer and force librarians to remove huge collections of materials just to keep funding they've relied on since 1965. Courts nationwide have affirmed that students don't shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate and that banning particular viewpoints violates the law. This federal overreach will expose school districts to expensive lawsuits and distract from literacy education. Vote no on H.R. 7661. Instead, support the Right to Read Act (H.R. 6440 / S. 3365), which provides real funding to ensure school libraries are well-resourced and well-staffed.