Republican Pennsylvania Rep. John Joyce has introduced a bill titled the “GRINCH Act” that seeks to prevent children’s literature from being censored or removed from publication by their publishers.
Joyce appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Friday to discuss his bill, the “Guarding Readers’ Independence and Choice Act,” which would reportedly cut off government funding for agencies that choose to censor books.
The bill would also reportedly prevent taxpayer dollars from being used by local and state governments to censor or remove books.
This is bigger than Dr. Seuss – no one is safe from cancel culture. I introduced the GRINCH Act to counter censorship and prevent our tax dollars from funding the left’s “woke agenda.”
Great to join @DanaPerino to highlight this work to protect our First Amendment freedoms. pic.twitter.com/tCvx05crpB
— John Joyce (@RepJohnJoyce) March 26, 2021
“The cancel culture is rapidly attacking our American institutions, our libraries, our school,” Joyce said on Fox News, adding that he was “alarmed” by attempts to cancel historically important books. (RELATED: Disney Plus Pulls Dumbo, Peter Pan And More Classics From Kids, Adds Warning Label For Adults Watching)
Joyce also said he hopes that the bill will gain bipartisan support in Congress and and that he’ll reach “across the aisle,” Fox News reported.
The representative first introduced the act on March 24, accompanied with a statement criticizing cancel culture and calling on Congress to prevent “the left [from waging] further attacks on student’s first amendment rights.”
“Cancel culture is rapidly encroaching on American institutions – starting in our elementary schools,” Joyce said in the statement. “To push back, I am working to safeguard children’s access to historic books and characters.”
Dr. Seuss, the well-known children’s book author, had six of his books pulled from publication early in March after they were deemed to be “racist” by the Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which cited questionable imagery.
The initial announcement by the Dr. Seuss Enterprise was met with fierce backlash, with sales of multiple books skyrocketing in support of the famous author.