Democrats may hand Trump a weapon to use against liberal non-profits
A new bill would allow a single Trump administration official to revoke the tax-exempt statuses of groups deemed a threat to the country
This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!
The incoming Trump administration is on the verge of being handed a gift that it could use to shut down non-profits that work against its right-wing agenda.
H.R. 9495, up for a vote in the House today and officially called the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act,” includes a provision that would allow the Treasury Secretary to revoke the tax-exempt status of any non-profit deemed to be sponsoring terrorism. Because that phrase is so vaguely defined, it could theoretically apply to groups that support protests against the Israeli government’s genocide against Palestinians, groups supporting reproductive freedom and abortion access, and church/state separation groups deemed a threat to conservative Christianity.
(An earlier bill, H.R. 6408, didn’t go anywhere. This version includes the text of that version along with a hard-to-oppose provision that offers tax relief to American hostages being held abroad. It’s easy to conclude that this is just an attempt to sneak in the poisonous part by merging it with a popular provision.)
Noah Hurowitz of The Intercept outlines the concern:
Under the bill, the Treasury secretary would issue notice to a group of intent to designate it as a “terrorist supporting organization.” Once notified, an organization would have the right to appeal within 90 days, after which it would be stripped of its 501(c)(3) status, named for the statute that confers tax exemptions on recognized nonprofit groups.
The law would not require officials to explain the reason for designating a group, nor does it require the Treasury Department to provide evidence.
“It basically empowers the Treasury secretary to target any group it wants to call them a terror supporter and block their ability to be a nonprofit,” said Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action, which opposes the law. “So that would essentially kill any nonprofit’s ability to function. They couldn’t get banks to service them, they won’t be able to get donations, and there’d be a black mark on the organization, even if it cleared its name.”
Back in September, a coalition of over 100 civil rights organizations including American Atheists sent a letter to House leaders urging them to rethink the bill. It pointed out that supporting terrorism is already prohibited under federal law while this bill would merely prevent “fundamental due process” since targeted groups wouldn’t be able to defend themselves in front of a neutral third party.
The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 is immense as the executive branch would be handed a tool it could use to curb free speech, censor nonprofit media outlets, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups across the political spectrum. Moreover, the addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the IRS to explicitly target and harass domestic nonprofits using its investigative authority.
They noted that even if the groups didn’t lose their tax exemptions, “nonprofits will curtail their activities as a precaution in order to avoid stigmatizing and financially devastating punishments.”
It’s not like progressive organizations are the only ones aware of the problem with this bill, either. In September, during a mark-up hearing shortly after it was introduced, Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett raised all of these concerns to Robert Harvey, deputy chief of staff for the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation:
“I would just ask you — and I don’t think this a realistic possibility — let’s suppose we had an administration that vowed to wreak vengeance on its opponents,” Doggett said. “To prosecute lawyers, political operatives, illegal voters, and corrupt election officials to the fullest extent of the law, and impose long prison sentences on them; someone who believes that those who don’t clap for him are traitors; someone who believes that someone who worked to bring him to justice in the courts or worked tirelessly to assure his defeat — would there be any limitation on that president’s Treasury secretary on designating a ‘terrorist supporting organization’ and strip that organization of its nonprofit status?”
“Mr. Doggett, that requires me to do some speculation,” Harvey replied. “But I am not aware of any limitations in the bill.”
For years now, conservative Christians have lied about how Democrats were doing exactly this through the use of the Johnson Amendment. They said the IRS was targeting Christian churches merely using their freedom of speech to endorse political candidates.
There were two problems with that argument. First, there was no evidence the IRS was actually going after any of those churches even though they had every reason to do so. Second, even if that were to happen, the Johnson Amendment wasn’t a weapon against a particular group of people or a particular ideology; it was a blanket rule that applied to the ACLU as well as the NRA, to liberal churches as well as conservative ones.
Still, the threat of the government going after non-profit churches was such a rallying cry for conservatives that Trump, during his first term, claimed he got rid of the Johnson Amendment. (That was a lie.) The argument was that churches had free speech rights, too, and it was appalling to think the government could get in their way.
And now, if H.R. 9495 gets signed into law, the Trump administration could conceivably use it to target any organization giving them trouble. The very people who have spent the past several months promising to get revenge on their perceived enemies will have a new weapon to use in the fight. All it would take is the Trump administration insisting a group is assisting terrorists, the same way he claimed the maniacs who tried to kill him were aligned with Democrats (though they were not), and his Treasury Secretary would have the ability to shut down the engine of that organization.
It’s not like his supporters would rally on behalf of the free speech rights of those groups. They’re not guided by principles. Hypocrisy doesn’t faze them. They have no problem using the levers of power to shut down their ideological opponents because they have no other way to do it; their ideas are almost never popular enough to win support on their own.
There’s a reason Republicans aren’t speaking out against this measure: They want the cudgel ready to go when Trump enters office again.
If it proceeds, the bill will go to the House floor in a “suspension vote,” a fast-track procedure that limits debate and allows a bill to bypass committees and move on to the Senate as long as it receives a two-thirds supermajority in favor.
Getting a two-thirds supermajority would require Democratic support. For now, there’s a symbolic petition against the bill but very few Democrats have spoken out publicly against it. It seems that many of them are so hell-bent to punish critics of their foreign policy in Israel that they’re willing to hand the Trump administration a massive stick which he will then use to attack every segment of their constituency.
Nick Fish, President of American Atheists, called on them to take action now before it’s too late while highlighting how the administration will inevitably look the other way when certain non-profits actually need to be investigated:
Any member of Congress who votes to give Donald Trump the unilateral, unchecked authority to exact retribution on disfavored groups cannot claim ignorance or surprise when he does exactly that. In the aftermath of last week's election, it defies explanation how any Democrat—or any Republican who's spent the past four years complaining about Joe Biden's purported abuse of executive authority—could possibly support this bill.
The irony is that there are countless 501(c)(3) groups, including "churches" like the Family Research Council, who should have their charitable status examined and revoked for their meddling in politics. But no one in this incoming administration will bat an eye at the millions of tax exempt dollars being funneled through those Christian Nationalist groups.
Instead, if this bill passes, it will be yet another weapon to be wielded during Donald Trump's revenge tour.
The revenge tour is apparently beginning before he even re-enters office.
It appears that this is an add-on to a bill addressing deadlines for tax filings for individuals wrongfully held overseas. The first three sections of this bill apply to that. This bunch of bullshit doesn't appear until section 4 and appears to be a separate add-on altogether. It's so frustrating in this country that we can't pass good bills because people tack on the bullshit ones on the end in order to either defeat the original bill or to ride the coattails and sneak a piece of shit bill in without being seen. These are the things that need to be corrected in our government.
Not surprised they tacked on this execrable legislation to try to sneak it into law. This is how this government will roll. This is what happens when the majority of US citizens put a convicted felon in the White House, essentially making him above the law.
When this eventually comes back to bite those citizens in the ass, let them remember the following:
"You voted for this. You wanted this to happen. You didn't just screw yourselves, you screwed everyone else. Save your tears."