Thanks to the hundreds of people who used our Action Alert last week to ask their House members to oppose the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act which contains a provision that could be used to target nonprofits that might have occasion to criticize the President. The Secretary of the Treasury could designate any nonprofit as a “terrorist-supporting organization” and revoke their nonprofit status. The only avenue of appeal is back to the Secretary of the Treasury.
Maybe it seems far-fetched that this could happen to an organization simply for criticizing the Administration, but retribution seems to be part of the job description for at least some of the nominees for cabinet posts so far. Congress should not approve such a threat without better safeguards for all the non-terrorist-supporting organizations.
The bill failed to pass last week because under the procedure used to bring it up for a vote, it needed a two-thirds majority and didn’t get it. However, it came back this week needing only a majority and it passed the House 219-184. Whether the Senate Democrats will bring it up during the lame duck session this year remains to be seen, but it could easily come back next year in the Republican-controlled Congress. The nonprofit community including SCA is on alert.
When I say SCA I mean the 20 nonprofit organizations that comprise our coalition. The executive directors got together last Tuesday for a post-election discussion about plans and priorities. Each organization has its own strengths and focus but we all share the common goal of protecting the rights of nonreligious Americans. We talked about the upcoming challenges and possible opportunities in the next four years and how the SCA staff, like me, can inform, organize, and lead the coalition. Generally speaking, we are planning on:
- Expanding grassroots engagement: Empowering people and communities to advocate for separation of church and state in Washington and in the states.
- Watching for and addressing specific legislative threats and government regulations that threaten secular governance.
- Growing our reach to educate the public and policymakers about the importance and benefits of keeping religion out of government.
As it stands now SCA plans to oppose more than one of the nominees for cabinet positions in January when the new Congress convenes and confirmation hearings begin. New information will undoubtedly come out between now and then about every nominee. Experience and competency have become too much to expect for all Trump nominees, but some already have backgrounds or conflicts that go far beyond inexperience.
And perhaps the about-to-be created Department of Government Efficiency, headed up by Elon Musk, (not a real government agency, just an outside commission) will take a look at the improvements to efficiency when you nominate competent people to run the federal agencies.
Congress has about six months of work to do in December: pass the bill that sets policy and priorities for the Pentagon, pass a similar bill for all the country’s expiring agriculture programs, and fund the whole government for 2025. Plus any of a hundred other important bills left over. I’ll let you know when we need help supporting or opposing the next one coming up for a vote. Hearing from constituents is always significant to your representatives and helpful for us.
