Another bullet has been dodged. Once again, Donald Trump will fail in his effort to repeal the Johnson Amendment.
For more than a year now, Trump has promised the Religious Right that he would sign a repeal of the rule forbidding places of worship from endorsing political candidates if they want to keep their tax exempt status. If he were to rescind that rule, Christian churches be one step closer to essentially becoming fundraising arms of the Republican Party. We have no idea how much dark money would start flowing to campaigns via churches when that day arrives.
Trump even signed an executive order last May claiming to repeal the rule… but it had no teeth. It was more of a performance than anything substantive.
Since then, Republicans have attempted to do the job legislatively by putting a repeal into various spending bills… to no avail. The latest attempt was thought to be via the omnibus bill that will be voted in the House and Senate on by Friday.
But when the $1.3 trillion bill was finally released last night, the Johnson Amendment repeal wasn’t included. More specifically, there was no language prohibiting the IRS from using its time and money to go after churches that violate the rule by telling the congregation who to vote for.
Read the full story at the Friendly Atheist Blog
