Tom Cotton bill would eliminate funds for teaching NYT's 1619 Project in schools

Sen. Tom Cotton is proposing to bar federal funds from being used in public schools to teach a curriculum on United States history that is based on the New York Times feature focused on race as a defining feature of the nation’s story.

The feature, known as The 1619 Project, is a series of investigative and commentary articles commissioned by the New York Times that focuses on slavery and race relations in the U.S., beginning before the nation’s founding and claiming to offer a truer accounting of its history.

Cotton, an Arkansas Republican mulling a 2024 presidential bid, unveiled the Saving American History Act of 2020, a bill that would prohibit taxpayer dollars from financing the teaching of The 1619 Project in K-12 schools.