Democrats killed a bill Tuesday to give the Trump administration power to crack down on allegedly pro-terror nonprofits.
A similar version passed the house during the Biden-Harris administration with overwhelming support from Democrats. But on Tuesday, a majority of Democrats voted against the measure and claimed it could be abused by the next administration. The earlier version was introduced after Hamas’s attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It passed the House in April with 179 votes from Democrats, but failed to gain traction in the Senate.
On Tuesday, 204 Republicans voted in favor of the new bill — but only 52 Democrats joined them. One Republican, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie voted against the measure. It needed a two-thirds majority to succeed. While critics celebrated its defeat as a victory for civil liberties, supporters believed it was necessary to target groups funding terrorism.
House Resolution 9495, or the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, was sponsored by Republican New York Rep. Claudia Tenney. The bill would “postpone tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees” for Americans held hostage, but it would also remove “the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.” (RELATED: ‘More And More Violent’: Lawmakers Scared Pro-Palestinian Protesters Will Swarm Capitol For Netanyahu Speech)
H.R. 9495 would have:
✅ Ended tax-exempt status for U.S. nonprofits supporting terrorist groups
⁰✅ Provided tax relief to Americans held hostage or wrongfully detainedHouse Democrats blocked this commonsense bill—citing President Trump’s election.
Americans deserve a…
— Mario Díaz-Balart (@MarioDB) November 14, 2024
“The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act targets tax-exempt nonprofits that back terrorist organizations and ensures that Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained are not subject to tax penalties,” Rep. Tenney said in a statement to the Daily Caller.
The bill is up for consideration by the Committee on Rules Monday. It could then be moved forward for another floor vote.
“Terrorist supporting organizations” are defined as nonprofits the Treasury Secretary deems as “having provided material support or resources” to terrorist groups, according to the bill. The secretary would send a notice to inform the nonprofit that it will be designated as a “terrorist supporting organization.”
The group would need to demonstrate within 90 days it “did not provide the material support or resources” or “[make] reasonable efforts to have such support or resources returned.” In the latter case, it would also need to provide written certification it plans to discontinue further support or resources to terrorist organizations.
Proponents of the legislation argued it would ensure allegedly pro-terrorism nonprofits did not receive tax benefits.
The last thing that Americans who are being held hostage or wrongfully detained should face when returning home is tax penalties from the IRS.
The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act corrects this flaw in our tax code, ensuring that returning… pic.twitter.com/u1b81KjlKN
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) November 12, 2024
“Despite passing unanimously out of the Ways and Means Committee, some of my Democratic colleagues have decided to play partisan politics with this common sense, bipartisan legislation, allowing the abuse of our tax code and putting politics above Americans’ safety,” Tenney told the Caller. “They should be ashamed that they voted to defend nonprofits that support violent terrorist organizations and unfairly penalize American hostages.”
Opponents of the bill, however, argued it could potentially be abused. One of the Democrats who originally cosponsored the bill — Nevada Rep. Dina Titus — ended up voting against it.
“The bill contains provisions I support that provide essential tax relief to Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage, but 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,” she said in a statement to the Caller. “I urge the House to pass the Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act that has already unanimously passed the Senate and would bring wrongfully detained Americans the tax relief they need.” (RELATED: Major Bank Allegedly De-Banked Florida Man Due To False ‘Russiagate’ Accusations From Left-Wing Blogger)
Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna also voted against the legislation out of free speech concerns.
“The bill is overbroad and could strip nonprofit status simply for speech or humanitarian work the President doesn’t like. We have to stand up for everyone’s right to free speech,” he stated in a post online.
I will vote no on HR 9495 tonight. The bill is overbroad and could strip nonprofit status simply for speech or humanitarian work the President doesn’t like. We have to stand up for everyone’s right to free speech.
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 12, 2024
The Caller asked if Khanna favored another method to target terrorist-supporting organizations.
“I would support a narrowly tailored bill that did not implicate free speech concerns or nonprofit groups like Human Rights Watch and others doing meaningful work,” he told the Caller in a statement.
Although the measure failed, there are still tools the Treasury Department can use to combat terrorism.
In 2019, President Trump’s treasury implemented sanctions to target entities funding terrorism. The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is responsible for enforcing sanctions against certain foreign countries, terrorists, drug traffickers and others engaged in threats to national security.
Financing terrorism is already illegal in the U.S. under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The USA PATRIOT Act granted Treasury the authority to freeze organizations’ assets, according to the Charity and Security Network. Nine charities have been forced to close under these laws since 2001. Their assets were also frozen.
H.R. 9495 would allow the stripping of tax-exempt non-profit status with no due process. This authority would be merely duplicative in the right hands, but extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.
The bill failed. I voted no. pic.twitter.com/5hsVTyRuVk
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) November 13, 2024
The majority of Republicans supported the bill out of national security concerns. However, recent measures purportedly aimed at countering terrorism have been used to target conservatives. (RELATED: Here’s What Trump Has Said He Plans To Do About Our Censorship Overlords)
In response to Jan. 6, 2021, the Biden-Harris administration released the first ever National Strategy For Countering Domestic Terrorism.
The document said “narratives of fraud” in the 2020 presidential election and “conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic” could result in violence from “domestic violent extremists.” The document also stressed how social media can be used to recruit “domestic terrorists,” citing “disinformation and misinformation online.”
The White House collaborated with Facebook to censor certain COVID-19 views, according to a letter from Mark Zuckerberg. The intelligence community under Biden-Harris censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, according to a House Judiciary report.
THREAD: If you’re watching @TuckerCarlson and unfamiliar w the Biden administration’s first of its kind National Strategy on Countering Domestic Terrorism and where it fits in the admin’s broader War on Wrongthink, I’ve been covering this vital, disturbing topic for the last year
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) January 14, 2022
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI also infamously targeted parents protesting school board meetings, whistleblowers said. The FBI investigated parents using its Counterterrorism Division, according to a letter from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
Additionally, an FBI memo targeting “radical, traditional Catholic” groups was leaked last year, although it has since been retracted.
Although H.R. 9495 was defeated Tuesday, its counterpart passed the Senate in May. The Stop Tax Penalties On American Hostages Act does not include the provision regarding nonprofits.