1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I urgently urge you to vote NO, *AGAIN*, on H.R. 9495, also known as the "Nonprofit Killer Bill." Not only that, please convince the Democrats who voted YES the other day that they need to vote NO this time. This legislation is widely condemned by civil rights and religious organizations. The ACLU and over 130 tax exempt organizations wrote Congress a letter last month advocating for a NO vote. The changes to the bill are NOT enough to address all the issues raised in regard to it creating new powers that would be far too easy to abuse! While H.R. 9495’s core aim of supporting wrongfully detained U.S. nationals is sound, this bill still empowers any Secretary of the Treasury with sweeping authority to unilaterally revoke nonprofit tax status without evidence or due process. There is already a federal statute making it illegal for non-profits to fund terrorist groups, making this bill look very much like a move designed to chill free speech and stifle advocacy on behalf of Palestinian human rights. Do NOT forget that this legislation will let the Trump administration go after ANY group that gets in the way of their extreme agenda. The last thing any member of Congress should be doing right now is giving Trump and his extremists unfettered power to target dissenting non-profits. This bill threatens all non-profits representing vulnerable communities, including those advocating for reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian rights, racial justice, and environmental justice. I'm frankly astonished that ANY Democrat voted for it the first time, much less almost 70 of them! It's madness. You all must know that giving Trump that kind of unilateral power is absolutely insane — it's reckless and extremely dangerous. It's un-American, undemocratic, an infringement on our free speech, and frankly it’s shameful. It's obvious that Trump will abuse any such power to target anyone and any group that doesn't bow down to him—he has stated that he will go after the “enemy within.” We must not acquiesce to authoritarianism in advance. This bill will do that. Please vote NO on H.R. 9495 and any subsequent version of the same, and do everything in your power to convince your fellow Congress people to vote NO and kill it for good.