Breaking: House to Vote on Bill Targeting Pro-Palestine Organizations
For Immediate Release
ADC Contact: media[at adc org]
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 11, 2024 – The attacks on pro-Palestinian voices continue unabated. As early as tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to vote on H.R. 9495, a bill that would grant the White House unprecedented and unchecked power to shut down any nonprofit organization – including civil liberties organizations, universities, media organizations, and religious institutions such as churches – based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing and without due process. Pro-Palestinian organizations will be the first targets, but indeed not the last. This legislation threatens all tax-exempt organizations, and it must not pass.ADC is vehemently opposed to this legislation, just as we were this past April when Members of Congress attempted to pass an earlier version of this bill.
Take Action: Demand that the House Reject H.R. 9495
This bill authorizes broad powers to the executive branch. It grants the Secretary of the Treasury virtually unfettered discretion to designate a U.S. nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” and to strip it of its tax-exempt status if the Secretary claims that the organization has provided material support to a terrorist group. The legislation does not require disclosure of the reasons or evidence for the decision, nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision. This leaves nonprofits entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support, preventing them from defending themselves in any way from what likely will be baseless accusations.
ADC National Government Affairs and Advocacy Director Chris Habiby said, “By threatening the tax-exempt status of advocacy organizations, the House of Representatives is arming the White House with a powerful tool to suppress freedom of speech and undermine the health of our civil society. Organizations advocating for Palestinian rights may be the first targeted, but they will not be the last. This bill threatens the tax-exempt status of universities, media organizations, and even religious institutions like churches. Congress must protect the fundamental freedoms that uphold our democracy, and reject this blatant attempt to demonize and silence voices that challenge or discomfort them, ”
Members of the House must vote NO on H.R. 9495 to protect the rights of all Americans. Both House and Senate members need to hear from constituents that this effort is a clear tactic from the authoritarian playbook, aimed at suppressing critical voices and political dissent. Now, more than ever, the work of organizations like ADC is essential.
About the ADC
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk. ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.
[An email sent out by the ANSWER Coalition the afternoon of November 16th [Take a stand against the repression of pro-Palestine activism]:
The ANSWER Coalition is circulating the following important appeal from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and The Center for Protest Law and Litigation. HR 9495 is a grave assault on the right to speak out for Palestine and against the genocide in Gaza. Especially as the Trump administration begins to take shape, stopping this bill is a crucial part of the broader fight to defend the right to protest against war and racism. Click here to get the contact information for the Congressional representative in your area.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is calling on all those who care about free speech and the right to dissent to take immediate action to contact Congress and demand they oppose H.R. 9495, a proposed new law that would grant President-Elect Donald Trump the ability to strip the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations engaged in free speech.
H.R. 9495, dubbed the “nonprofit killer” law, would enable the Secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations by designating them as “terrorist supporting.” The designation can be issued without evidence, without due process, and with no meaningful opportunity to challenge the designation.
“We know that, straight-away, this will be used to revoke the tax-exempt status of lawful non-profit organizations who speak out on issues related to Palestine, who oppose the genocidal slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, their forced ethnic displacement, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. They will first target groups who protest against the US support of the genocidal war against Palestinians. They will not stop there,” warned Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and its project The Center for Protest Law & Litigation.
“This law will be used to widely target those who dissent, those who protest and organize mass opposition and stand up for fundamental principles of justice. This law will be used as a tool for retribution and suppression as a matter of policy against those who democratically dissent. "
On Tuesday night, H.R. 9495 narrowly fell short of a two-thirds majority required for expedited approval. This following week, it is expected to be re-introduced to the House using a procedure that requires only a simple majority.
Last month the Center for Protest Law & Litigation and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund joined 100 civil rights and civil liberties organizations in a letter to Congress opposing these McCarthyist tactics that, as the letter said, “would empower the government to target civil rights, humanitarian, journalistic, and advocacy organizations based on their political positions, without providing meaningful opportunities to contest these opaque and potentially politically motivated determinations.”
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