WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law released the following statement from its President and Executive Director, Damon T. Hewitt, on H.R. 9495 in Congress. The proposed bill, the Stop Terror–Financingand Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, includes provisions that would give the Treasury Department the unwarranted ability to unjustly strip non-profit organizations and philanthropic institutions of their tax-exempt status.
“If passed into law, H.R. 9495 would give the Treasury Department arbitrary power to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofit organizations without evidence, transparency, or due process. This is dangerous and unacceptable on every level. The bill would do nothing to stop any administration from recklessly slapping a false label of “terrorist supporting” on any nonprofit organization to which it is ideologically opposed.
Numerous provisions of federal law already empower the government to investigate and prosecute organizations that actually violate the law. So, this bill is completely unnecessary. The only interests this bill would advance are political and personal vendettas–not stopping terrorism. It would be a dangerous permission slip for the executive branch to silence organizations, including those working in service of Black and Brown communities, and other historically targeted communities. Congress must reject this dangerous power grab and protect the integrity and agency of nonprofit advocacy.
For more than 60 years, the Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines protecting civil rights. We will not be silenced nor will we sit by and allow our partners to be silenced through fear mongering and authoritarian attempts to chill dissent. We will not have the hands of time turned back on us. Our country deserves better.”
