Why Are Democrats Supporting a Bill That Would Give Trump More Power to Punish His Critics?
President-elect Donald Trump should be expected to try to crack down on civil society in his second term. He has promised to deport protesters, and the prior time he was in office, he mused about having protesters practicing their First Amendment right to free assembly shot in the legs.
Members of Congress, and especially Democrats—ostensibly the opposition party—will thus be presented with a choice: Do they want legislation that emboldens him in this goal or that could potentially serve as a check against it?
One such early example is HR 9495, a bill that, through seemingly innocuous language, could very well be used to make things difficult to impossible for nonprofits and their actions, like organizing and advocating—work that is both an important part of a functioning liberal democracy and, sometimes, a crucial pushback on power.
What is HR 9495?
The bill is the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. It postpones certain tax-filing deadlines for Americans and their spouses who are wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad. Great, you say. I have no problem with that.
I agree! However, HR 9495 also “terminates the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.” Basically, per the text of the legislation, the treasury secretary can designate any organization as having met certain standards to qualify as “terrorist supporting.” The organization then has 90 days to “demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary” that it isn’t actually “terrorist supporting.” If it can’t do so, it’s designated as such and has its tax-exempt status revoked. Rescinding the “terrorist supporting” designation is also up to the secretary. No evidence or explanation is required.
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