US House passes bill to punish non-profits deemed to support ‘terrorism’

The Republican-controlled US House on Thursday passed a bill that would give the government broad powers to punish non-profit organizations it deems support “terrorism”.

This was the second time members voted on the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or HR 9495. Last week, after suspending House rules to fast-track the bill, the lower chamber failed to garner the two-thirds majority required to pass. This time, after passing the House committee on rules, the bill – requiring only a simple majority to pass – survived by a vote of 219-184. Fifteen Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure.

The bill, which gives the treasury the power to strip non-profits it claims support “terrorism” of their tax-exempt status, does not require the treasury to adhere to any evidentiary standard in releasing its findings. Although groups targeted could appeal to the IRS or the courts for review, simply being identified as a supporter of terrorism could have a chilling effect on advocacy groups, critics warn.

In the days since the first vote last week, non-profit organizations that have historically worked closely with Democrats have pushed against the passage of the bill, arguing that it would give Donald Trump sweeping powers to crack down arbitrarily on his political opponents in civil society. Thirty-seven fewer Democrats supported it during the Thursday vote than last week.

The bill merges the non-profit measure with another, uncontroversial measure that would grant tax relief to Americans unjustly imprisoned abroad.

“A sixth-grader would know this is unconstitutional,” said the Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, during debate over the bill on Monday. “They want us to vote to give the president Orwellian powers and the not-for-profit sector Kafkaesque nightmares.”

Raskin called the bill “sloppy”, and said it constituted a violation of due process and “contains everything condemned by the supreme court”.

Groups that advocate for Palestinians’ rights – many of whom politicians have spuriously accused of forging an alliance with the US-designated terrorist group Hamas – have long opposed the non-profit bill. After Trump, who has vowed to root out “enemies from within” the state, was elected, the bill generated broader opposition.

During debate on Thursday, the Republican Pennsylvania congressman Lloyd Smucker claimed that “nefarious groups” had provided material and financial support to Hamas, and said Democrats who changed their minds about the bill had only done so because Trump was elected. “Talk about election denialism, when are you gonna accept that Trump won this election?” said Smucker.

Members opposing the bill warned that Trump would abuse it if it was signed into law.

“Americans want checks and balances, not a blank check for any president to label anyone as a terrorist without evidence,” said the California congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat. “With this bill, the only guardrail against authoritarian abuse to any voice of dissent to his agenda will be Trump’s imagination.”