House Democrats' coronavirus bill earmarks $1 million to study 'disinformation'

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What's in House Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief package

The HEROES Act includes billions for metropolitan cities, schools and national testing; Mike Emanuel has the details.

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The House Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill would earmark $1 million to study “disinformation” related to the coronavirus, part of a $125 million package for “research and related activities" -- but one that could lead to questions about what such “disinformation” it would target.

The enormous bill includes a $125 million package to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including to fund research grants, of which $1,000,000 shall be for a study on the spread of COVID-19 related disinformation.”

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No more information is given about what the study would involve, and the legislation may likely be dead on arrival in Congress. But it is likely to stir concerns from conservatives, in particular, who have alleged a double standard among social media platforms and elsewhere in what is classed as “disinformation."

President Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk both recently had messages on Twitter removed when they promoted hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria that many feel can combat coronavirus.

CNN reported that Giuliani and Kirk were “temporarily locked for violating the Twitter Rules regarding COVID-19 misinformation.”

DEMOCRATS' $3T CORONAVIRUS RELIEF BILL EXTENDS STIMULUS CHECKS TO CERTAIN UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

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But disinformation spread by Chinese officials, including a conspiracy theory spread by Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian that “[i]t might be US army [sic] who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” still remains up on the website

While $1 million for the study is significant on its own, it is a drop in the bucket in the $3 trillion behemoth bill that Democrats have dubbed The HEROES Act.

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Of the more than $3 trillion package, about $1 trillion would go to state, local and tribal governments, according to three sources briefed on the proposal.

Another round of $1,200 stimulus payments also would go out to most Americans under the plan, with a maximum of $6,000 per household.

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Then a flurry of aid would be allocated to struggling Americans: extending the $600 extra in weekly unemployment insurance through January, pausing student loan payments through September and creating a new $175 billion benefit that would subsidize rent and mortgage payments for Americans.

Fox News’  Brian Flood and Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.