House Fast Tracks Bill That Would Give Trump Power to Target Nonprofits

Donald Trump hasn't even taken office, and Congress is already moving to advance legislation to expand his ability to target his enemies. The former president has repeatedly threatened on the campaign trail that he will attack "the enemy from within" using the military. But new legislation could give him unprecedented authority to go after nonprofit organizations he disagrees with.

The House is set to vote this week on a bill that would grant the Treasury Department authority to revoke tax-exempt status from any nonprofit it declares to be a "terrorist supporting organization," giving the agency broad latitude to determine what that means.

The legislation, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495), was originally drafted to prevent the IRS from issuing fines and tax penalties to Americans held hostage by international terrorist groups as well as citizens unjustly incarcerated abroad. By putting these two measures together under one bill, Republicans are trying to make it more difficult to oppose.

"They attached it to a super popular bill that everyone likes because they want to make it hard for people to vote 'no,'" Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told The Intercept . "The reality is that if they really wanted the hostage thing to become law, they'd pass that by itself."

Hamadanchy said that this bill is "about stifling dissent and to chill advocacy, because people are going to avoid certain things and take certain positions in order to avoid this designation."

The bill would allow the Treasury secretary to notify targeted nonprofits that their tax-exempt status is at risk, giving the organization 90 days to appeal before losing its 501(c)(3) status.

The vague language in the bill could be used against nonprofits that support Palestinian rights, reproductive rights and environmental protections. Trending Stories

"The danger is much broader than just groups that work on foreign policy," Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action, told The Intercept. "It could target major liberal funders who support Palestinian solidarity and peace groups who engage in protest. But it could also theoretically be used to target pro-choice groups, and I could see it being used against environmental groups."

If the House passes it, the resolution would go to the Senate, which voted in support of an earlier version that did not include the provision on nonprofits. If the House hadn't made changes to the legislation, then only a majority vote in the House would be required to send the bill to the president's desk to be signed into law. But now, because of the changes and because Republicans are trying to fast-track its passage, the resolution will require a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate before it can head to the White House, where Biden could veto it.