By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday 219-184 to pass controversial H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, with both of New Hampshire’s Congressmen opposing the bill.
H.R. 9495 empowers the Treasury Secretary to strip the nonprofit status of tax-exempt organizations if the Treasury Secretary determines that organization provides material support for terrorism, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H.
Kuster is concerned that the vague criteria could enable the Trump Administration to retaliate against nonprofit organizations whose perspectives or activities he disagrees with, according to her spokesman.
Kuster said is a statement: “Nonprofits in New Hampshire and across the country play a valuable role in supporting our communities, from helping individuals access substance use disorder treatment and recovery services to addressing homelessness and housing affordability, and so much more.
“Today, I voted against H.R. 9495, misguided legislation that would have threatened nonprofit organizations’ ability to carry out their crucial work. I support tax protections for Americans held hostage or wrongly detained abroad, and urge Republicans to work in a bipartisan way to fix this problem rather than playing games with the non-profits Granite Staters rely on,” Kuster said.
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-NH, also voted against the bill.
The American Civil Liberties Union has been active in fighting H.R. 9495.
“This legislation would grant the secretary of the Treasury the unilateral power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups — by stripping them of their tax-exempt status based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing,” said the ACLU in a news release.
This bill was passed despite hundreds of thousands of Americans voicing their opposition over the past few weeks, according to ACLU.
“The American Civil Liberties Union also led a coalition of over 300 nonprofit organizations from across issues and ideologies in sending a letter expressing their deep concerns with the bill and the consequences it could have on all of our civil rights and civil liberties,” the ACLU said.
The vote Thursday was mostly along party lines with 15 Democrats siding with Republicans to pass it. H.R. 9495 now heads to the U.S. Senate.
While it would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad,” what concerns critics is the part that says “to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations, and for other purposes.”
The following is a list of how each U.S. House member voted:
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024477?RollCallNum=477&BillNum=H.R.9495
“By voting for H.R. 9495 today, the House of Representatives chose fear over freedom,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior federal policy counsel at ACLU. “After over 100 years of defending civil liberties in this country, we know that the American people won’t sit quietly as politicians try to ram through anti-democratic legislation like this one. Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people make their opposition to this bill known, flooding members with so many phone calls, texts, and emails that dozens of representatives flipped their vote. As the bill heads to the Senate, we will continue to make sure our voices are heard, and we urge them not to take this bill up before they adjourn.”
