Democrats unveil legislation to fund schools fighting book bans

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Pushing back against book bans across the country, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida was joined by his Democratic colleagues as he introduced the Fight Book Bans Act on Tuesday.

"The far right, fascist, MAGA extreme has caught up to the fact that their agenda is unpopular with young people, because it turns out young people don't want fascism," Frost said at the Capitol.

"Instead of changing their policies to appeal to young people, they want to change the way young people learn in schools to try to change what they think."

As books containing content about race, sexuality and gender continue to be pulled off shelves across the country, school boards and districts have come under fire as parents remain split about their role in their children's education.

While Republican lawmakers say parents should have a choice in the content their children have access to, Democrats say these controversies are further straining an education system that is underserving young people.

Citing the cost schools have to pay to investigate controversial books, Frost said schools need to be equipped with funding to fight censorship and authoritarian control.

To do this, the bill would fund school districts up to $100,000 to oppose challenges against materials in their libraries.

Frost was joined by Democratic colleagues, including Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Jasmine Crockett and Greg Casar of Texas, and Shontel Brown of Ohio in their attempt to move toward protecting free speech.

"We live in a society where there is a free circulation of ideas, discussion and dialogue," Raskin said. "You've got to defend the full thing. You can't just defend the speech that you love. That's easy. You've got to defend the speech that you hate."