The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would give the Treasury Department unilateral power to strip the tax-exempt status of nonprofits it claims support terrorism.
The bill was passed 219-184, with the majority of the support coming from Republicans. A version of the bill was first introduced after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and passed with bipartisan support in April.
But then the bill was brought up for a vote last week, after former President Donald Trump won the November 5 presidential election, and it failed to garner a two-thirds majority required under the suspension of the rules. Last week's vote saw 204 Republicans and 52 Democrats supporting the bill and 144 Democrats and one Republican opposing it.
The bill would give a nonprofit designated as a "terror-supporting" 90 days to appeal that designation and, separately, it would postpone tax filing deadlines for Americans held hostage or unlawfully detained abroad.
Nonprofits Sound the Alarm
A coalition of nearly 300 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—which often uses the power of the legal system to fight for peoples' rights—has been sharing concerns about the bill for weeks, arguing that it lacks due process.
The ACLU states on its website that the coalition "expressed deep concerns about the bill's potential to grant the executive branch extraordinary power to investigate, harass, and effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil liberties organizations like ours" in a letter to the House dated September 20.
The letter makes clear that the coalition does not oppose the provisions "that relate to preventing the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad."
Critics also believe the bill is redundant because it is already illegal to support designated terrorist groups.
Rep. Jason Smith Slams Democrats
Representative Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said on the House floor ahead of Thursday's vote that his Democratic colleagues would still be supporting the bill if Vice President Kamala Harris won the election against Trump.
"Terrorism exists regardless of who's president of the United States. And we, as members of Congress, have the duty to make sure that taxpayers are not subsidizing terrorism," Smith said. "It's very, very simple."
Some Democrats have warned about what this bill would mean in a second Trump administration.
"This is the death penalty bill that we're considering today, the bill that empowers Donald Trump to extinguish the life of any nonprofit, of any civil society group, which happens to be on his enemies list," Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas said Thursday.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland called the bill "an unlawful power to vest in any president, and a dangerous power to vest in a president who shows no qualms about leveling threats of retribution and revenge against his enemies."
But Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan said Thursday before the vote, "I don't care who the president of the United States is."
"This is a dangerous and unconstitutional bill that would allow unchecked power to target nonprofit organizations as political enemies and shut them down without due process,' added Tlaib, who said it would be her third time voting against the bill.
The bill will now go to the Democratic-controlled Senate for a vote.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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