The United States House of Representatives will vote on legislation this week that would give the executive branch of the federal government unilateral discretion to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization that it deems to be a "terrorist supporting organization", without due process. This is a direct threat to the operations of nonprofit organizations across the country who provide critical services to Americans. Project Access NOW is urging our Representatives in Oregon to vote NO on H.R. 9495. You can find Project Access NOW's letter to Oregon's 6 U.S. Representatives below, and if you're interested in contacting your own representative, you can learn about how to do so here.
"November 20th, 2024
To U.S. Representatives Bonamici, Bentz, Blumenauer, Hoyle, Chavez-DeRemer, and Salinas,
On behalf of Project Access NOW (PANOW), a community-based organization working to improve access to health and social care for Oregonians in the Portland Metro area and across the state, I am writing to you today to express our staunch opposition to H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. PANOW is a critical resource for community members in need, providing insurance enrollment assistance, access to social resources like housing and transportation, donated health care for uninsured individuals. We are just one of a robust network of nonprofit organizations in Oregon doing vital work, providing a safety net to the community. Without these organizations, Oregon’s most vulnerable community members would suffer greatly, and our state would be presented with insurmountable new challenges. H.R. 9495 presents a direct threat to the operations of nonprofit organizations across the country by denying us of fundamental due process and giving the federal executive branch the essentially unrestricted ability to revoke the tax-exempt status of any organization it designates as a “terrorist supporting organization” without any opportunity for defense or review. We encourage you to vote NO on H.R. 9495 and protect the nonprofit organizations doing critical work in your districts.
The powers that this legislation would unilaterally grant to the Secretary of Treasury create a concerning risk of abuse and political discrimination. The supporters of this bill claim to seek to prohibit nonprofits with tax-exempt status from providing support to terrorist groups. However, doing so is already illegal at the federal level and the executive branch already has a wide berth to investigate and prosecute organizations it believes are connected to terrorism. The supporters of this bill claim to seek to avoid “time-consuming bureaucracy” with this legislation. They may interpret the constitutional right to due process as burdensome or “time-consuming”, but for nonprofit organizations and the Oregonians they serve, that right to due process is their only protection from undue targeting and discrimination by federal agencies.
The potential for this legislation to be weaponized is simply too great. It can be used to stamp out free speech, advocacy, and will create an environment of anxiety and fear of retribution in the nonprofit sector. Organizations will be forced to restrict their operations out of concern for the potential for undue prosecution. The people served by nonprofits will ultimately suffer as a result. We implore you to heed the warning of your colleague, Representative Scanlon of Pennsylvania, during the House Rules Committee hearing on this legislation earlier this week, “We all oppose terrorism and organizations that actually materially support terrorism should not enjoy tax-exempt status but that’s not what this bill is about. This bill gives the president, any president, a broad authority to target and silence civil society groups the president does not agree with, and then the groups have no way to challenge this determination.” Please do the right thing for Oregonians and vote “No” on H.R. 9495.
Thank you,
Peter Merritt
Public Affairs Manager
Project Access NOW"
