#H.R. 6408

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the President & U.S. Congress

Oppose the Inclusion of H.R. 6408 in H.R. 9495.

1,707 so far! Help us get to 2,000 signers!

I urge you to oppose H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act because it includes the text of H.R. 6408. H.R. 6408 authorizes broad and easily abused new powers for 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 finds that the nonprofit has provided material support to a terrorist group, even if the “support” is not intentional or connected to actual violence. If this bill were to become law, the Secretary of Treasury could strip a US nonprofit of its tax-exempt status without providing the nonprofit a meaningful opportunity to defend itself before a neutral decisionmaker. The legislation further does not require disclosure of all the reasons for such a decision or the evidence relied upon to support it. Nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision, leaving an accused nonprofit entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support. The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 is immense as the executive branch would be handed a tool it could use to curb free speech, censor nonprofit media outlets, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups across the political spectrum. Moreover, the addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the IRS to explicitly target and harass domestic nonprofits using its investigative authority. It is also not hard to imagine a future administration using this power in far broader circumstances that have nothing to do with the hostilities in Gaza.6 And as more recent congressional oversight efforts make clear, these efforts are part of concerted attack on civil society that is targeted at more than just groups involved in the campus protests regarding Gaza. The executive branch could use this authority to target its political opponents and use the fear of crippling legal fees, the stigma of the designation, and donors fleeing controversy to stifle dissent and chill speech and advocacy. The lack of guardrails creates the potential for future administrations to weaponize these powers against groups on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Even if they may never be designated as “terrorist-supporting,” let alone charged with a crime, nonprofits will curtail their activities as a precaution in order to avoid stigmatizing and financially devastating punishments. That is why we strongly urge you to oppose the inclusion of H.R. 6408 in H.R. 9495.

▶ Created on November 11 by Matthew · 1,706 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PCDICI to 50409

[smollbetawooper]

UPDATE

Naurrrr they’re trying to do it again!

THERE'S A RESIST BOT 🤖 FOR IT TEXT PCDICI TO 50409, IT WILL SEND AN EMAIL FOR YOU! STILL CALL YOUR REPS!

Here’s the link for the petition.

Here’s a script if needed that the TEXT BOT provided for H.R. 6408 that you can use for a phone call and email.

“I urge you to oppose H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act because it includes the text of H.R. 6408.

H.R. 6408 authorizes broad and easily abused new powers for 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 finds that the nonprofit has provided material support to a terrorist group, even if the "support" is not intentional or connected to actual violence.

If this bill were to become law, the Secretary of Treasury could strip a US nonprofit of its tax-exempt status without providing the nonprofit a meaningful opportunity to defend itself before a neutral decisionmaker....”

Edit or use as is 🙂‍↕️

A project by Fight for the Future

URGENT: Tell your reps to vote NO on H.R. 9495!

The House will vote TODAY at 4 PM to determine whether the incoming Trump administration will have the power to shut down non-profit organizations with no due process.

We can’t let Congress give Trump the power to crush dissent and target organizations fighting for justice. Tell your representatives to vote NO on this dangerous bill!

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

Repost from @adcnational

•

🚨 Urgent Alert: Congress is considering several bills with serious implications. Swipe left for a breakdown of four concerning pieces of legislation we’re tracking closely. These bills demand our attention.

Take action now with two action alerts in the link in ADC bio to fight H.R. 6408 and H.R. 6090.

[beloskin]

Tell Congress to Oppose H.R. 9495.

H.R. 9495 includes the legislative text of H.R. 6408, a bill that could give any President unprecedented power to target and shut down nonprofits and activist student groups.

The House previously passed H.R. 6408 with very little opposition, a bill that could give any President unprecedented power to target and shut down nonprofits and activist student groups.​

The legislation intended to target and strip the tax-exempt status of organizations advocating for Palestinian human rights.

The Senate refused to take it up after tens of thousands of our members sent letters to Congress urging opposition.

But now, House Members are attempting to pass a different bill (H.R. 9495) that includes the legislative language of H.R. 6408, which would be disastrous for all of our organizations working towards a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation.

Tell your Member of Congress to protect the right to dissent and oppose H.R. 9495 and any other legislation targeting our organizations for advocating for Palestinian human rights.

Can you join me and write a letter?

[homucifer-ryotan]

(Credit to @ohcorny)

A helpful reminder when calling people about voting against H.R. 9495/H.R 6408 and voting against KOSA. (By the way, Americans under 18 can still call too.)

Important links here:

[im-a-fan-of-things]

From an email from MPower Action Muslim Grassroots Movement:

“The House previously passed a bill (H.R. 6408) that could give any president unprecedented power to target and shut down nonprofits and activist student groups.​ The legislation was intended to strip the tax-exempt status of organizations advocating for Palestinian human rights. The Senate refused to take it up after tens of thousands of our members sent letters to Congress urging opposition.

But now, House Members are attempting to pass a different bill (H.R. 9495) that includes the legislative language of H.R. 6408, which would be disastrous for all of our organizations working towards a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation.

We can’t let that happen.

Urge your U.S. House Representative: Vote NO on H.R. 9495.

This bill would give future presidents new powers to target and shut down nonprofits and movement groups in the name of security — with virtually no oversight.

Our communities have seen firsthand the kind of abuses that prosecutors and Presidential administrations can unleash against everyday people of conscience using similar tools.

We can only imagine the effects that could be unleashed on our nonprofits advocating for Palestinian human rights if a future administration decides to use this expanded power to target us.

Send a letter to Congress now.

Thank you for everything you do.

In solidarity,

Yasmine and the team at MPower Action”

[dagwolf]

Free Speech on the Ropes: Legislation to Revoke Not-for-Profit Status of Organizations that Support Palestine Protests Passes in House

Chuck L alerted me to an important tweetstorm by Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace about legislation that is designed to drop a hammer on not-for-profits that are deemed to be supporting pro-Palestine protests by revoking their not-for-profit status. As Friedman explains, this bill, H.R. 6408, also removes pretty much all due process rights, so its targets have effectively no recourse. The pretext is that pro-Palestine protests are supporting terrorist organizations, as in Hamas.

This measures is so far under the radar that so far, only Friedman and Matthew Petti at Reason seem to have noticed it. And Petti has pointed out that the Secretary of the Treasury can designate any organization to be “terrorist-supporting organization,” so the does not think, as Friedman seems to, that any other measures are needed to allow an Administration to try to financially cripple not-for-profits engaging in wrong speech.

[mbrainspaz]

Petition the govt to stop a bill that would make it harder to organize and protest. When you enter your name and address, it automatically populates a petition that you can edit with your own words.

[handbagman]

the links;

[helloiamausacresfan]

That's right, the US House managed to force HR 9495 through to the US Senate, who'll probably vote on it this week.

Both HR 9495 and HR 6408 (the version of HR 9495 with just its part concerning nonprofits) would, if implemented, allow the US Treasury to quickly revoke tax-exempt status from ANY nonprofit that it deemed guilty of "terrorism".

Note that there's no specific criteria a nonprofit would have to meet to be guilty of "terrorism", which means that the US Treasury would be able to revoke tax-exempt status from any nonprofit that even so much as SAID anything deemed to be against the government, any political party, any politicians, or any laws or policies enforced by any of the above.

Thus, both HR 9495 and HR 6408 would effectively end freedom of speech in the US.

Tell your US Senators to vote NO on both HR 9495 and HR 6408.

[rustyshiv]

Just got this email, figured I'd spread the word a little to get more signatures

[iamchangingwind]

Donald Trump ran for office pledging to take retribution against anyone he deems a political opponent.

Now Congress is on the verge of handing him sweeping powers to crush any nonprofit organization that dares to criticize him.1

Under legislation passed last week in the House of Representatives, the Trump administration could effectively nuke any nonprofit organization in the country with the stroke of a pen by simply labeling the group "terrorist supporting."2

No due process. No meaningful appeals process. Trump wouldn't even have to provide evidence.

This is what authoritarianism looks like — and we're fighting tooth and nail to stop this bill in the Senate.

Will you make a donation to Demand Progress Action and support our work, including fighting this effort to empower Donald Trump to crush nonprofit organizations that criticize or oppose his agenda?

If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

H.R. 9495, which opponents are calling the "nonprofit killer bill," would give Trump's treasury secretary the authority to strip the tax-exempt nonprofit status of any organization by simply asserting that the group supports terrorists.

Supporters of the bill claim that it's needed to bar U.S.-based organizations from funding terrorists, but that's already illegal under multiple statutes.

The good news is that our efforts to stop this terrible bill are having a major impact. At one point earlier this year, this bill had unanimous support in the House, with 382 Representatives supporting it and only 11 voting no.3

But after we began sounding the alarm and flooding Capitol Hill with petition signatures and phone calls, we were able to convince 184 representatives to vote no.4 That wasn't enough to stop the bill in the House, but it shows that momentum is on our side as the bill moves to the U.S. Senate.

Demand Progress Action has already mobilized tens of thousands of people to contact Congress about this bill, and now we need to turn up the heat on the Senate.

Will you donate $10 to help Demand Progress Action fight this draconian assault on free speech, and push for other key reforms?

With gratitude,

The team at Demand Progress Action

DONATE

Sources:

1. The Intercept, "The House Just Blessed Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook by Passing Nonprofit-Killer Bill," November 21, 2024.

2. ACLU, "Civil Society Letter to House Opposing H.R. 9495," September 20, 2024.

3. Congress.gov, "All Actions: H.R.9495 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)," November 21, 2024.

4. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, "Roll Call 121 | Bill Number: H. R. 6408," April 15, 2024.

[sadderbutwisergirrl]

It’s being voted on 11/20 or 11/21 again. Here’s a script:

SUBJECT LINE: Vote NO on HR 9495

Dear Representative ——,

The U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to reconsider H.R. 9495, legislation that would empower the U.S. Treasury Secretary to unilaterally deem nonprofits as terrorist-supporting organizations and revoke their tax exemptions with little due process. This bill failed to pass the House on November 12, but the House is planning to take it up again starting November 20th.

H.R. 9495, the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act,” purports to stop bad actors from using nonprofit organizations to fund terrorism, as is already prohibited under current law. It also includes some laudable provisions to extend tax deadlines for those unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad.

But H.R. 9495 goes much, much farther, building on provisions in previous legislation, H.R. 6408, to empower the Secretary of Treasury to designate 501(c) organizations as “terrorist supporting organizations” and revoke their tax-exempt status with minimal due process. It would allow the Secretary to bring such accusations without disclosing the evidence behind them and would place the burden of proof on the organization to disprove the allegations. The potential for overreach, subjective application, and abuse of this authority is enormous, and the consequences for organizations and the people they serve cannot be overstated.

Representative ——, I urge you to vote NO when HR 9495 again goes to the House Floor later this week.

Sincerely,

Name and Nonprofit Organization (mention if you or your org are constituents in their Congressional District)

HR 9495 is going back up for voting. All non-profit orgs are in danger.

The Committee on Rules is meeting at 1600 EST on 18 Nov 2024. The agenda includes HR 9495.

If this bill passes, the Secretary of the Treasury would have the power to strip any non-profit group of it's tax-exempt status with no due process.

If you are part of the fandom community and you are in America, please contact your reps and ask them to vote NO on HR 9495.

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

If you care abt Palestine & wanna continue helping them, SPREAD THIS AROUND & CONTACT YOUR SENATORS

(Link to write letters to your senators at the end)

I just got an email about this last night and this is really bad.

This is REALLY BAD. And it would set a precendent and start us down a slippery slope if passed and they could use this law to target any charity organizations for any minority groups they don't like. LGBTQIA + charities, disabled, BIPOC AAPI, you name it. WE need to ensure this bill doesn't pass. Make sure your senators don't know a single moment of peace!

Contact your senators using the link below!

[strunmahalok]

Or, so you don't have to go onto Twitter, here's a link to a letter campaign

Readers, make sure you have all your favourite Ao3 fics downloaded.

Writers, make sure you have copies of all the fics you have posted on Ao3.

I don’t want to be alarming, but things could get really bad really fast. OTW shared this today on Twitter, and I'm a bit worried about it 😅

Ao3 is a non-profit organisation. If they have to start paying taxes, I have no idea what will happen.