ALA President Sam Helmick issued a statement on H.R. 7661, a bill that threatens funding promised by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 from any school that provides or promotes literature or other materials to children that include “sexually oriented material,” after the bill passed the US House Committee on Education and Workforce on March 17. “H.R. 7661 is a dangerous bill that steals the power to choose what kids read away from parents, local communities and well-trained educators and librarians, and gives it to politicians,” Helmick said.