House Republicans have moved to cut $1 billion in funding for the FBI and protect federal whistleblowers as lawmakers continue to question the bureau over its treatment of conservatives. 

The bill introducing the cuts was passed by Republicans on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies and was opposed by Democrats on the committee. If the bill, which could face an uphill battle in the Senate and from the White House, becomes law it would cut FBI funding by about 9%. 

The proposed bill also prevents funds from being used for the FBI’s office of diversity and inclusion, as well as other agency diversity offices that fall under the scope of the appropriations bill, which covers a variety of federal agencies including the Commerce Department and the Department of Justice. 

The DOJ would also get its funding cut by $2 billion and the Commerce Department would lose $1.4 in discretionary spending. 

“The bill holds the Department of Justice accountable and improves our immigration court system. It supports state and local law enforcement and provides critical resources to combat illegal drugs flooding our country,” Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) said. 

Lawmakers also took steps to shield whistleblowers from retaliation, including in the bill a provision to withhold salaries from federal employees who take action against whistleblowers and violate an employee’s First Amendment rights. 

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The whistleblower provision comes after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked the DOJ appropriations bill to contain language “prohibiting retaliation against FBI whistleblowers,” including prohibiting taxpayer dollars from going toward the salary of any official found to have retaliated against a whistleblower.

In order to protect free speech online, Jordan said the judiciary panel as well as his “Weaponization of the Federal Government” subcommittee want appropriations bills that explicitly block taxpayer funds from being used for censorship and to classify speech as “so-called ‘mis-, dis-, or mal-information.’

House Republicans have heard testimony from FBI and IRS whistleblowers this year, with IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley saying he was retaliated against because he raised concerns about the DOJ. 

“The actions taken by my leadership right now could be nothing but retaliation,” Shapley told Just the News earlier this month. “They know what prohibited personnel practices are, and they know how to how to try to engage in retaliatory activities that somehow you obfuscate that piece, whether it’s a prohibited personnel practice.”

The Biden administration received a reprieve on Friday from a judge’s order blocking several government agencies and officials from contacting social media companies.

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a temporary stay “until further orders” are given and called for expediting oral arguments in the case, which now appear to be set for August 10.

The ruling is part of a lawsuit brought in 2022 by the GOP attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri over alleged collusion between the federal government and social media companies such as Twitter and YouTube to censor “disfavored” speech in violation of the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, who was nominated to his position by former President Donald Trump, granted a preliminary injunction on July 4 while recognizing allegations of coordinated suppression of information on a range of topics ranging from COVID to elections labeled by the defendants as “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “malinformation.”

The order restricted a number of officials, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and agencies from meeting or communicating with social media companies for the purpose of “urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing” in any manner the “removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” Some exceptions related to flagging criminal behavior, national security concerns, and election tampering were included in the order.

“We must build a wall of separation between tech and state to preserve our First Amendment right to free, fair, and open debate,” said Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who called the judge’s order “a huge win for the right to freely speak without government censorship.”

DOJ lawyers responded by filing a notice of appeal and asking for a stay from the appeals court after Doughty rejected the request for a pause. Their filing said the preliminary injunction would “cause the government and thus the public to suffer irreparable injury” while raising concerns about the ban being too vague and overbroad.

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“We are going to continue to promote responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our election,” Jean-Pierre told reporters last week.

She added that social media companies have a “critical responsibility” to take account of the effects their platforms have on the American people and to “make independent choices about the information they present.”