Sponsors
The bill expands USAGM's modern foreign outreach and centralizes archival custody (improving public diplomacy and long-term access) while preserving a ban on domestic distribution and introducing fee/reimbursement rules that may limit timely public access and complicate budgeting.
U.S. taxpayers and global audiences: USAGM is authorized to disseminate information abroad across modern media (internet, video), strengthening U.S. public diplomacy and ability to counter foreign disinformation.
Taxpayers: Fees collected for providing archival materials must cover costs and flow to the National Archives Trust Fund, reducing direct taxpayer burden for retrieval services.
Researchers, students, and universities: Archivist custody plus a 12-year release rule create a clear pathway for domestic access to historical USAGM materials for research and transparency.
U.S. researchers, journalists, students and the public: The bill maintains a broad ban on domestic distribution of USAGM materials, which can limit timely access to U.S.-funded foreign broadcasts and hinder oversight and reporting.
Students, researchers, and low-income members of the public: Requiring pay-to-access archival materials may restrict access to historical records for those who cannot afford fees.
Federal employees, USAGM budget holders, and taxpayers: The reimbursement requirement and potential gaps between fees and actual costs create administrative complexity and may shift implementation costs back to USAGM appropriations, risking budgetary impacts.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced September 17, 2025 by Mike Lee · Last progress September 17, 2025
Amends federal law governing the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to restate and modernize its authority to prepare and disseminate information about the United States abroad while preserving prohibitions on using appropriated funds to influence opinion or distribute program material within the United States. It requires that materials prepared for foreign dissemination become available for domestic distribution through the National Archives after a 12-year delay, sets reimbursement and fee procedures, and designates the Archivist as custodian for those materials. The Act also establishes a short title for citation purposes.