H.R.9495 is a Pandora’s box of destruction for any organization that crosses Trump and his MAGA agenda!
UPDATE: This bill passed the House! WTH?! Call your senators! Script below!
Despite its defeat last Tuesday night, H.R. 9495 – which gives the incoming Trump administration unchecked power to shut down ANY NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION that stands in the way of his MAGA agenda – will return for a second vote in the U.S. House of Representatives early next week, with a markup starting on Monday, November 18. This will be followed by an expected floor vote on Tuesday or Wednesday, where it will require only a SIMPLE MAJORITY to pass.
What can we do?
- Find out how how your representatives voted here. (Clerk of the House) We’ve attached CA’s Democrats below under RESOURCES for convenience, but it’s easy to search the site by state and party.
If your HOUSE legislator, Republican or Democrat, voted “YEA” – do Action #1If your House legislator, Republican or Democrat, voted “NAY” – do Action #2- Make a preemptive call to your state’s SENATORS – Action #3
- Make sure your friends and family in RED states do the same with their legislators, for both HOUSE and SENATE.
Not sure who represents you? Go here. Confused by this whole issue? Go to our Deeper Dive below.
Action #1 – Call YOUR “YES”-voting representative and remind them who they work for!
Check out the revised votes on the chart below for those from CA. All changed to “NO” except for Rep. Panetta and Torres. Your calls are important!
Action #2 – Call YOUR “NO”-voting representative and THANK THEM!!!
This would include our own Reps. Brownley and Carbajal! YAY!!!
Minimal call or email script to your “NO”-voting representative: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to THANK Rep. [____] for voting “NO” on H.R.9495 – Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.
Contacts:
Action #3 – Call YOUR SENATORS and tell them you’re watching!!
Minimal call or email script to your senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [____] to vote “NO” on S.4136 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations. This dangerously vague bill gives the Secretary of State unchecked power to designate any 501(c) non-profit (you can add “such as Indivisible, Oxfam or others here) as a “terrorist supporting organization” and violates due process by placing the burden of proof on the accused organization.
Instead, please support S.4057 – Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostage Act of 2024
Contacts
Deeper Dive
Most generous interpretation: this was just really sloppy wording, along with lack of due diligence by our own legislators.
Less generous interpretation: this GOP-authored bill deliberately inserted a poison pill – trying to equate the First Amendment rights of non-MAGA voices as terrorism and shut them down, in true authoritarian fashion.
AIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw: “Opponents of H.R. 9495 – the ‘nonprofit killer’ bill – are ready for round two. This bill threatens not only American Muslim and Palestinian nonprofits, but any civic or faith-based organization or house of worship advocating for politically-sensitive issues. Monday’s vote is critical—every American must urge their lawmakers to reject this dangerous attack on free speech and due process. The more bipartisan opposition H.R. 9495 faces, the less likely it will advance in the Senate.”
(Oxfam) “H.R. 9495 is a threat to free speech. It would grant the Trump administration, and any future administration, the ability to silence and censor its critics, curb free speech, target political opponents, and punish crucial organizations that speak truth to power and help people in the United States and around the world. This bill would increase the powers of the president at the expense of all of our freedoms, and could impact not only organizations like Oxfam, but other non-profits, news outlets, or even universities who dare to dissent. It could put our ability to respond to some of the worst humanitarian crises at risk and prevent us from delivering lifesaving aid to some of the world’s most marginalized people. This bill follows the same playbook Oxfam has seen other governments around the world use to crush dissent. Now we are seeing it here at home.”
(ACLU) “The American Civil Liberties Union strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing.
“Passing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it’s too late.”
While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as “support,” making it virtually impossible to clear its name.
Last month, the ACLU and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations — including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants’ rights groups — wrote to Congress urging them to vote no.
The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature.”
(independentsector.org) “…We have no opposition to the provision in the bill postponing tax deadlines for those unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad. And we strongly support stopping bad actors from using nonprofit organizations to fund terrorism. Unfortunately, this legislation as drafted also includes language from H.R.6408 [now H.R. 9495] that creates redundancies and confusion while providing the executive branch with expansive new authority that could be abused.
This legislation would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to designate section 501(c) nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” at the Secretary’s discretion, without requiring the Secretary to share their full evidence or reasoning with accused nonprofits. Furthermore, the legislation runs counter to constitutional due process protections by placing the burden of proof on the accused organization and providing only 90 days for organizations to demonstrate their innocence before revoking their tax-exempt status.
Even if the Secretary’s decision were successfully reversed, designees would risk irreparable damage to their operations and reputation. The implication that an organization could be associated with terrorism could cause it to lose not only access to banks and other financial institutions but also the trust of donors and the communities it serves. In the end, the beneficiaries of nonprofits’ work would suffer the most.
In addition, under H.R.9495, law-abiding organizations could be stripped of their tax-exempt status for providing humanitarian assistance in conflict zones even when operating under Office of Foreign Assets Control authorizations. These authorizations protect nonprofits under sanctions law, but not under tax law.
It is already illegal to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations. Organizations suspected of violating the law are rightly subject to criminal investigation and prosecution. Section 4 of H.R.9495 may achieve the goal of expediting these cases, but it does so at the expense of fairness and transparency. If the investigation process needs refinement or expedition, we stand ready to work with policymakers on changes that protect due process rights of nonprofit organizations and guard against future abuse.
We urge you to oppose H.R.6408/H.R.9495 unless amended to address the foregoing concerns.
RESOURCES
Voting record of CA Democrats on H.R.9495
Democratic | California | First vote -NAY/ Second vote – NAY/YEA | |
| Barragán | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Bera | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Brownley | Democratic | California | NAY/Not voting |
| Carbajal | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Cárdenas | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Chu | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Correa | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Costa | Democratic | California | YEA/NAY |
| DeSaulnier | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Eshoo | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Garamendi | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Garcia, Robert | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Gomez | Democratic | California | NOT VOTING/NAY |
| Harder (CA) | Democratic | California | YEA/NAY |
| Huffman | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Jacobs | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Kamlager-Dove | Democratic | California | NOT VOTING/NAY |
| Khanna | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Lee (CA) | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Levin | Democratic | California | YEA/NAY |
| Lieu | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Lofgren | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Matsui | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Mullin | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Napolitano | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Panetta | Democratic | California | YEA/YEA |
| Pelosi | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Peters | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Porter | Democratic | California | NAY/Not Voting |
| Ruiz | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Sánchez | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Schiff | Democratic | California | YEA/NAY |
| Sherman | Democratic | California | YEA/NAY |
| Swalwell | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Takano | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Thompson (CA) | Democratic | California | NAY |
| Torres (CA) | Democratic | California | YEA/YEA |
| Vargas | Democratic | California | YEA |
| Waters | Democratic | California | NAY |
References:
- (Clerk of the House) Roll Call 458
- (CAIR) Urge the House to Vote NO Today on Nonprofit Killer Bill Threatening Religious and Advocacy Groups
- (OXFAM) H.R. 9495 “a threat to free speech,” says Oxfam America
- (Independent Sector) We Oppose H.R. 9495
- (ACLU) ACLU Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies – Under H.R. 9495, any tax-exempt organization that criticizes the government could have its status stripped away arbitrarily by a designation that it is “terrorist supporting”
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 