Today, Congressman John Moolenaar offered an amendment that would prohibit the Department of Justice from using taxpayer funds to investigate parents who speak at their local school board meetings. Moolenaar offered the amendment during the House Appropriations Committee’s annual debate on funding for the Justice Department in the next federal budget. The amendment was rejected by the committee in a mostly party-line vote with Democrats voting against the amendment.
"Parents across America are demanding better educational opportunities for their children and it is outrageous for the Attorney General to target them for using their First Amendment right to freedom of speech," said Moolenaar. "My amendment would prohibit him from using taxpayer funding to intimidate and profile parents who attend school board meetings to speak up for their children. I am disappointed my Democratic colleagues sided against parents in voting against my amendment today.”
Congressman Moolenaar is Michigan’s senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which decides funding levels for federal departments, agencies, and programs.
On October 4, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo ordering the FBI to work alongside local and state law enforcement to address “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” This was in response to a letter the National School Boards Association sent to the White House that stated some actions by school board participants against public school officials “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
Original source can be found here.
