Despite its seemingly noble name, if the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act becomes law, it will enable the incoming Trump administration to lead a government crackdown on dissent. The bill, also known as H.R. 9495, got one step closer to becoming law on Nov. 21, 2024 when it passed in the House of Representatives.
H.R. 9495 allows the treasury secretary to revoke the tax exempt status of nonprofit organizations it claims are “supporting terrorists.” However, the bill does not require the Treasury to adhere to any evidentiary standard in releasing its findings, which is very problematic because it will allow the incoming Trump administration to punish organizations that are critical of its policies without needing any evidence of wrongdoing. It’s clear that Republicans are eager to make H.R. 9495 law — they even suspended House rules to fast track the bill. When they couldn’t get enough Democrats to support it, they decided to hold a second vote.
In the second round of voting, 15 Democrats joined the Republicans and voted for H.R. 9495, allowing it to pass in the House. It’s disappointing that Democrats voted for a bill that is clearly a Republican power grab. Some of these Democrats, such as Tom Suozzi, even touted their bipartisanship on social media, which adds to the frustration over their vote since it feels like they may have voted for this bill simply to appear as bipartisan, rather than in the best interest of their constituents. Bipartisanship can be used to pass good legislation but also bad, so why should we applaud bipartisanship when it’s being used to restrict our rights?
In an interview with Fox Business, Donald Trump referred to Democrats as the “enemy from within” and said that they should be dealt with “by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military.” This statement, coupled with the fact that Trump has made over 100 threats to punish people that he considers political enemies, shows that the president-elect is more than willing to go after his political enemies after he is sworn into office.
Who else does Trump consider his political enemy? It’s very likely that he believes that non-profit civil rights organizations like the A.C.L.U. are his enemies, since they filed over 400 legal actions against the Trump administration during his first term and have vowed to fight Trump’s proposed policy of mass deportations when he returns to the White House. Trump may also consider pro-Palestinian advocacy groups to be his political enemies, given his use of the word “Palestinian” as an insult against Biden during their debate in June and his strong support for Israel, which was best displayed when he moved the U.S embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Congress authorized moving the U.S embassy to Jerusalem in 1995, but every president before Donald Trump deferred the decision in hopes that a peace agreement would develop before moving the embassy. The move was done to legitimize Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem while delegitimizing the Palestinians’ claim to the city, neglecting the complex history of the city and its importance to followers of both Judaism and Islam.
These nonprofit organizations, along with many others, are at risk of being shut down when Trump is sworn in. He has repeatedly threatened his political opponents in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future. However, when Trump is sworn in as president, he will actually be able to act on them, and H.R. 9495 will give him the ability to follow through by allowing him to claim that a nonprofit is “supporting terrorists” without any evidence and withhold their tax exempt status as punishment. This bill sets a dangerous precedent for the government to restrict our freedom of speech. H.R. 9495 has already passed the House, so it is incredibly important to contact your state’s senators and demand that they oppose it when it reaches the Senate.
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