The U.S. House of Representatives voted down a controversial bill Tuesday that would have enabled President-elect Donald Trump to potentially crackdown on non-profits that displease him
The “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act,” also known as H.R. 9495, would provide tax relief for U.S. nationals who are wrongfully detained abroad, but it would also have granted the U.S. Department of Treasury authority to revoke tax-exempt status of “terrorist-supporting groups.”
On the House floor Tuesday night, 145 Democrats and one Republican voted against H.R. 9495, just enough to deny the fast-tracked bill the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Opposition to the bill was led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who cited Trump’s re-election as the primary reason for voting down what he called "the tools of tyranny."
"This bill authorizes Donald Trump to impose a death penalty on any non-profit in America that happens to be on his enemies list," Doggett said on the House floor Tuesday. "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 no violated a single law."
The bill faced strong opposition from activist groups, which warned that its would restrict non-profit organizations’ right to free-speech, as well as lead to the targeting of political opponents, media outlets and universities across the political spectrum. H.R. 4945 was first was first introduced in response to the protests on college campuses against Israel’s war on Gaza, but it was blocked by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“This bill dangerously weaponizes the Treasury against nonprofit organizations and houses of worship — Christian, Jewish, or Muslim — that dare to support Palestinian and Lebanese human rights or criticize Israel’s genocidal actions,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement.
In September, over 100 groups signed a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson urging him to block the bill because it “poses a direct threat to the constitutional rights of any American nonprofit, house of worship, or advocacy organization, whether conservative, moderate, or liberal in orientation.”
Now, with Trump set for a second term, the bill's stakes were even higher, advocates and politicians warned. H.R. 9495 would give the president-elect exactly what he needed to carry out the crackdown on his political opponents that was a central promise of his campaign.
“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,” the ACLU said in a statement.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to go after anybody who opposes his administration’s political beliefs and has even suggested that he would deploy the military on "radical left lunatics."
Other Democrats who voted against H.R. 9495 echoed Doggett's reasons for dissent.
“This legislation does not get us closer to that goal, rather, it would allow Trump unchecked power and grant his executive agencies the right to harass nonprofit organizations he disagrees with — bringing politically motivated investigations and stripping them of their tax-exempt status — to carry out his vindictive political agenda," Rep. Mikie Sherill, D-N.J., said in a statement.
The ACLU praised the opposition, which at least temporarily stopped passage of the measure. "This is a victory for all our right to speak truth to power," the organization wrote on X.
Still, over 200 Republicans and 52 Democrats voted to pass the bill. Doggett warned that H.R. 9495 is likely return to the House when a simple majority is needed to pass it next session.
"I was successful in stopping the bill tonight, when a 2/3 vote was required, but undoubtably it will be back because Trump’s thirst for unlimited power can never be quenched," he wrote on X.
