AFJ Opposes Bill Targeting Nonprofits for Discrimination

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 20, 2024 – Alliance for Justice and its Bolder Advocacy program call on members of Congress to reject H.R. 9495. We join others in calling it the “Kill Nonprofits Bill” due to language in Section 4 of the bill’s text. The House is expected to take up the bill this week.

This legislation would give the treasury secretary carte blanche to designate any nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” and suspend their tax-exempt status. Such organizations would only have 90 days to try to prove their innocence “to the satisfaction of the Secretary.” Not only is this approach contrary to due process, but it also gives the secretary full discretion to target any nonprofit, inflicting financial and reputational harm regardless of the outcome. What is most nefarious is that it appears any organization or funder who supports a targeted organization — financially or through other services — can themselves be targeted in turn, even if they had no awareness that they were supporting an organization that had been designated in this way.

President-elect Trump has repeatedly said that he would use the power of office to target his political opponents and seek retribution. This bill appears to perfectly cater to empowering his administration to do just that. It does nothing to actually prevent support for foreign terrorist organizations, which is already illegal, but it would create a pretext to target organizations that are simply providing international humanitarian assistance or even voicing concerns about the Trump administration — as well as potentially their funders and partners.

The original intent of this bill, still contained in its first three sections, is an honorable one. It was designed to ensure that individuals who were held hostage abroad were not further punished at home for paying their taxes late. AFJ could easily support a clean bill containing only those provisions. But so long as it also contains language inviting witch hunts against charitable organizations, it must not pass.

Alliance for Justice Interim Co-President Keith Thirion issued the following statement:

“The House must reject the McCarthyist language in H.R. 9495. It is clearly designed to hand unchecked power to an administration eager to target its political opponents. Organizations attempting to provide humanitarian relief abroad or criticize their elected officials should not have to worry that a vengeful president and secretary might target them simply for fulfilling their noble missions. There are already mechanisms in place to identity and respond to support for terrorist organizations, so do not believe anyone who claims this bill’s overbroad authority is necessary. This is nothing but a disturbing power grab that flies in the face of freedom. Those who have been held hostage in foreign conflicts deserve better than to see this passed in their name.”