Iowa congresswoman applauds college students, young people for standing up for free speech

Iowa GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said Thursday that with all the censorship happening, whether on college campuses or by Big Tech, young people speaking out against it deserve recognition. 

"We have young people who are actually standing up by making sure that their voices are being heard," Miller-Meeks said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "They're also assuming leadership positions on college campuses. I think it's extraordinarily important to acknowledge the courage of these young individuals at a time when most of us are concerned with how our peers perceive us."

Miller-Meeks said that organizations such as the ACLU seem to have abandoned the concept of defending free speech, but there are other institutions that are pro-First Amendment that need to be recognized.

"I think even the ACLU has abandoned its long held views on free speech and the First Amendment," she stated. "So I think it's extraordinarily important that we bring this up and we let young people know that there are organizations that are available to help them."

One example she cited was FIRE, an organization that advocates for free speech on college campuses and highlights examples of censorship from higher-ups in learning institutions. 

With the GOP set to take the House next year, Miller-Meeks said there may be oversight committee meetings into censorship regarding Big Tech partnering with the government to censor certain information regarding COVID-19. 

"We do want to hold oversight," she said. "We want to hold people accountable. But I think a lot of it is having the investigatory capacity — the capacity to bring subpoena witnesses to have them come and talk."

"That may include things that we don't want to hear either as Republicans, but what's very important is that we're given an avenue to have both sides of a story come out," she concluded.