House rejects bill enabling punishment of non-profits supporting ‘terrorism’

A bill that would have allowed the government to strip tax-exempt status from any non-profit it deemed to be supporting “terrorism” was narrowly blocked in the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening.

The bill was widely feared as a tool that Donald Trump could use to punish dissent, and critics argued the measure could have disproportionately targeted groups that criticize Israel and support Palestinian causes – and that it was designed to do just that.

The vote failed with 145 votes against it, falling short of the two-thirds required to circumvent regular House rules. Fifty-two Democrats voted in support of the bill.

The bill, called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or HR 9495, joined two measures together – one allowing the treasury department to withhold tax-exempt status from any non-profit it decides is a “terrorist-supporting organization” and another, less controversial measure, which would offer tax relief to Americans imprisoned unjustly abroad or held by terrorist groups.

Providing material support to US-designated terrorist groups is already illegal.

Critics of the bill argued that Republicans cynically pushed to fast-track the bill by merging the measure targeting non-profits with the provision offering tax relief to Americans imprisoned abroad, and described it as a gift to Trump, who made retaliation against “enemies” within the US a centerpiece of his campaign.

“This bill authorizes Donald Trump to recklessly impose a death penalty on any non-profit in America that happens to be on his enemies list,” said the Texas Democratic congressman Lloyd Doggett before the bill was taken to a vote. “With this bill, he can destroy the very life of civil society in this country, one group after another, even though the group involved that he targets as a terrorist supporting group has not violated a single law.”

Activists who have publicly criticized Israel amid its assault on Gaza have faced steep recriminations already, including doxxing, harassment and – in the case of one Cornell University student – the threat of deportation. Pro-Israel politicians have regularly claimed that pro-Palestinian groups are aligned with the militant group Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group.