A State Department agency – which has been chided by conservatives for its alleged blacklisting of Americans and news outlets – is set to be refunded in the continuing resolution (CR) bill currently being hammered out among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Global Engagement Center has been included in page 139 of the CR. Although it doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report shows the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress. 

The provision in the CR can be found under “Foreign Affairs Section 301. Global Engagement Center Extension,” and comes despite the State Department saying in response to a lawsuit that it intended to shut down the agency by next week.

OBAMA-ERA INTERAGENCY ORGANIZATION ‘BLACKLISTED’ AMERICANS IN ATTEMPT TO CURB ‘FOREIGN DISINFORMATION’: REPORT

The GEC, according to reporter Matt Taibbi, “funded a secret list of subcontractors and helped pioneer and insidious—and idiotic—new form of blacklisting” during the pandemic. 

Taibbi wrote last year when exposing the Twitter Files that the GEC “flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’” 

“State also flagged accounts that retweeted news that Twitter banned the popular U.S. website ZeroHedge, claiming it ‘led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.’” ZeroHedge had made reports speculating that the virus had a lab origin.

Elon Musk previously described the GEC as being the “worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation.” 

“They are a threat to our democracy,” Musk wrote in a subsequent tweet. 

Journalist Matt Taibbi  (Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage)

The GEC is part of the State Department but also partners with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security. The GEC also funds the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).

Taibbi offered various instances in which the DFRLab and the GEC sent Twitter a list of accounts they believed were engaged in “state-backed coordinated manipulation.” However, a quick glance from Twitter employees determined that the list was shoddy and included the accounts of multiple American citizens with seemingly no connection to the foreign entity in question.

STATE DEPARTMENT FUNDS ‘DISINFORMATION’ INDEX TARGETING NON-LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE NEWS OUTLETS: REPORT

DFRLab Director Graham Brookie previously denied the claim that they use tax money to track Americans, saying its GEC grants have “an exclusively international focus.”

A 2024 report from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee criticized the GEC for awarding grants to organizations whose work includes tracking domestic as well as foreign misinformation and rating the credibility of U.S.-based publishers, according to the Washington Post. 

The State Department, in response to a lawsuit, said it intended to shut down the agency on Dec. 23. But the CR provision means, if passed, it will continue to operate.

Matt Taibbi was among the independent journalists chosen by Elon Musk to help reveal the social media juggernaut’s once-secret internal communications. (Fox News)

The lawsuit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Daily Wire and the Federalist, who sued the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other government officials earlier this month for “engaging in a conspiracy to censor, deplatform and demonetize American media outlets disfavored by the federal government.”

The lawsuit stated that the GEC was used as a tool for the defendants to carry out its censorship. 

“Congress authorized the creation of the Global Engagement Center expressly to counter foreign propaganda and misinformation,” the Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a press release. “Instead, the agency weaponized this authority to violate the First Amendment and suppress Americans’ constitutionally-protected speech. 

The complaint describes the State Department’s project as “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.’”

The lawsuit argued that The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and other conservative news organizations were branded “unreliable” or “risky” by the agency, “starving them of advertising revenue and reducing the circulation of their reporting and speech—all as a direct result of [the State Department’s] unlawful censorship scheme.”

The Global Engagement Center is part of the State Department. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, America First Legal, headed up by Stephen Miller, President-elect Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff for policy, revealed that the GEC used taxpayer dollars to create a video game called “Cat Park” to “Inoculate Youth Against Disinformation” abroad. 

The game “inoculates players … by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence,” according to a memo obtained by America First Legal. 

Mike Benz, the executive director at the Foundation For Freedom Online, said the game was “anti-populist” and pushed certain political beliefs instead of protecting Americans from foreign disinformation, per the Tennessee Star.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending legislation when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the GEC for comment on its potential refunding but did not immediately receive a response. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson is meeting with lawmakers to discuss the CR.  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Fox News Nikolas Lanum and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

A 28-year-old detention officer in Texas is dead after allegedly being attacked by an inmate while he was returning the inmate to his cell.

During a news conference Tuesday, Ellis County Sheriff Brad Norman revealed that Officer Isaiah Bias was killed Monday during the alleged attack at the jail. 

“It’s with great sadness that we stand here today and acknowledge the loss of one of our own. … Isaiah Bias, 28 years of age, was a dedicated detention officer with over six years of service to the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office,” Norman said.

Norman called the alleged attack by 45-year-old suspect Aaron Thompson “pure evil” but did not disclose details about how Bias was killed.

FLORIDA SHERIFF MOURNS ‘REALLY GREAT’ DEPUTY KILLED DURING TRAFFIC STOP; SUSPECT LATER KILLED

“Most of the time, law enforcement officers and detention officers deal with good folks having a bad day. Occasionally, we deal with bad folks,” Norman said. “I can honestly say that my staff over the last day has dealt with pure evil.”

Norman said Thompson was charged with capital murder, adding he would be recommending the death penalty.

CHICAGO-AREA POLICE OFFICER KILLED WHILE RESPONDING TO ‘ARMED OFFENDER’ AT BANK, SUSPECT CHARGED

Isaiah Bias, a detention officer at the Ellis County, Texas, jail, died Monday after allegedly being assaulted by an inmate. (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office)

“It was a heinous, horrific, purposeful murder that was senseless and not needed,” Norman said. “The ultimate decision will be made by the district attorney’s office, whether or not they seek the death penalty in this case. If I have anything to say about it, that’s exactly what will happen, but the ultimate decision lies on the DA’s office.”

According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KDFW, Thompson punched Bias, knocking him to the ground, and then allegedly began choking and hitting him in the head with his fist, knee and foot.

The affidavit said Thompson then went to a table and sat down, leaving Bias in a “large pool of blood.”

Thompson was booked into jail last month on three counts of assault on a public servant and evading arrest and was in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, Norman said.  

Norman said he met Bias when he was a teenager in the jail’s explorer program. 

CHICAGO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS ID SUSPECT, ANNOUNCE CHARGES IN MURDER OF POLICE OFFICER

During a news conference, Ellis County Sheriff Brad Norman said detention Officer Isaiah Bias was killed after being attacked by an inmate Monday. (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office)

“He wanted to be in law enforcement. He came in to work for the jail,” Norman said. “You can work in the jail when you are 18. You can’t be a peace officer in Texas until you’re 21,” Norman said.

Norman also described Bias as a “very family-oriented person” and said he had just become an uncle a week before his murder.

“His sister’s baby was a week old, and he was able to see the baby the day it was born,” Norman said. “He loved what he did. The people around him loved him. Law enforcement was a career path he loved.”

The Texas Rangers have taken over the murder investigation. Thompson was arraigned, and his bond was set at $2 million.

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com