(Photo by Marisa Demarco/States Newsroom)
Nevada Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee along with 51 other House Democrats joined Republicans in an unsuccessful attempt to give the incoming Trump Administration unchecked power to strip nonprofits of their tax exempt status.
The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act failed to get the two-thirds vote needed to pass the House under “suspension of the rules” procedure Tuesday, which limits debate to 40 minutes and doesn’t allow for amendments to be added.
If passed, the bill would have allowed the U.S. Treasury secretary the sole power to strip tax exempt status from any nonprofit organization the administration deemed “terrorist supporting.”
The ACLU on Tuesday warned the organizations at risk could include universities, civil society groups, and nonprofit news outlets.
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump threatened to get revenge on political rivals and perceived enemies.
The bill also postponed tax deadlines for American who were detained or held hostage abroad.
“This bipartisan bill would protect American hostages and their families from unnecessary financial harm and ensure we are holding our nation’s adversaries accountable to keep Americans safe,” Lee said in an email of her vote in support.
Lee declined to answer questions about whether the bill would have given the Trump Administration the ability to attack nonprofits it deemed “terrorist support” organizations.
Republicans will control the Senate 53 to 47 and are also projected to retain the House by a slim margin, giving Trump the ability to pass his agenda.
But as seen earlier this week when Trump pressured Republican senators to allow him to appoint cabinet members without going through the Senate confirmation process, Trump is demonstrating he is keen to be empowered to circumvent Congress if and when he sees fit.
The narrowly rejected bill, which received 256 votes in support, would authorize the Treasury Department to deprive organizations of their nonprofit status at its own discretion with no input from Congress.
The ACLU, along with 130 nonprofits organizing for reproductive freedom, immigrant protections, environmental justice, and LGBTQ rights signed onto a letter in September warning that passing such legislation would put them at risk.
“The executive branch could use this authority to target its political opponents and use the fear of crippling legal fees, the stigma of the designation, and donors fleeing controversy to stifle dissent and chill speech and advocacy,” the letter said.
Other notable Democrats who voted to support the bill included U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff of California and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, both who recently won elections to U.S. Senate seats.
U.S. Rep. Dina Titus was a co-sponsor of the original language of the bill, which focused on tax exemptions for hostages and did not include language authorizing Treasury to unilaterally revoke nonprofit status of organizations.
She voted no on the revised version of the bill.
“The bill contains provisions I support that provide essential tax relief to Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage,” Titus said in an email. “I voted against it in light of recent concerns that the provisions added by Republicans related to non-profit tax-exempt status could be abused by a future administration.”
Titus instead directed her support to a separate measure, the Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which she said would also bring “wrongfully detained Americans the tax relief they need” without empowering the Treasury Department to make potentially politically driven determinations to take away tax exempt status.
Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, said in a statement Tuesday that the freedom to dissent with retaliation was key to a “well-functioning democracy.”
Hamadanchy warned that “now is not the time to grant the executive branch new powers to investigate and functionally shut down and silence its critics.”
“Enough members of the House voted to block giving the executive branch new broad and easily abused powers,” Hamadanchy said in a statement. “This is only the first such battle we expect to see in the coming years, and we will continue to remain vigilant in working to ensure that the authority of the executive branch is appropriately limited.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada’s sole Republican in the House, voted Tuesday in support of the bill. Democratic U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford voted against the bill.