Hi everyone, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned HR 9495, a bill that would allow the Trump administration to declare any nonprofit it doesn’t like a “terrorist-supporting organization” and remove its tax status, without any due process. It gets even scarier with the possibility of the Trump administration then seizing the assets of those organizations.
This is a major step toward authoritarian rule. We should be worried and take action. Here is an excerpt of the transcript from Rachel Maddow’s show on November 12 this year, where she warned of the potential horrifying implications of this bill:
“For over 30 years, the most prominent human rights organization in Russia was an organization called Memorial. And the purpose of Memorial was to memorialize and tell the stories of the oppression and the bloodshed of the Stalin era. It was one of the most important repositories of information about the brutal past of the Soviet Union.
“Memorial, the organization, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. But stories about the Russian government doing bad things, even doing bad things decades ago, those are not stories that Vladimir Putin likes. And of course, one of the hallmarks of authoritarian rule is that there can’t be sources of information that compete with the dictator.
“So three years ago, Putin’s government shut Memorial down. They first labeled Memorial a foreign agent, which then was just a quick hop step and a jump to the Kremlin, just ordering the group to be liquidated altogether. Another branch of Memorial that focused on present-day human rights.
“They were accused of supporting terrorism. They got shut down as well. Putin’s government also shut down the anti-corruption movement led by opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“How did he shut down Navalny’s organization? By labeling it an extremist organization, which is the same label the Russian government gives to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. One key signifier of authoritarian drift is leaders giving themselves wide powers to shut down civil society groups and media outlets.
“And the easiest way, of course, to do that is to declare some kind of emergency. The second easiest way to do that is to label groups you don’t like as terrorists or as part of some nefarious outside influence. Well, today, with 70 days to go until Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term as president, this is probably not a great time for the United States Congress to be considering a bill that would willingly hand over to the executive branch new wide latitude to unilaterally declare non-governmental organizations and media outlets to be terroristic.”
Well, that bill HR 9495 passed through the House of Representatives this year, supported by several Democrats. It will now be sent to the Senate.
While it’s demoralizing that the House approved it, we should be proud that we were able to mobilize in a very short period of time. Within days, we sent thousands of emails and made hundreds of phone calls. We convinced 52 Democratic representatives who had voted yes earlier to 15 who voted yes again this time. And now that we’re more aware of it, we can mobilize to stop it in the Senate, and then to stop it later if they attempt it again under Trump.
Here are 5 specific actions that Fund The People’s CEO Rusty Stahl recommends we all take, based on advice from the ACLU lawyer who is leading the ACLU’s effort to stop the bill:
(1) Urge Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer to NOT allow S. 4136 (the bill’s equivalent in the Senate) to come up for a vote in the Senate. Call him via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or submit a message through this page of his website
(2) No matter your party affiliation or your Senator’s party affiliation, call the offices of your state’s two U.S. senators, and urge them to oppose S 4136 this year, and in the new Congress next year. Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121 to reach them.
(3) If you live or vote in Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington State, or Maine, contact the following senators. (Or if you KNOW people in these states, be sure to share this with them and urge them to contact these senators!)
Oregon: Contact Senator Wyden is the chair of committee of jurisdiction that “accepted” H.R. 9495 from the House into the Senate and made it S 4136. Call him via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or submit a message through this page of his website:
Rhode Island: Contact Senator Reed, Chair of Armed Services Committee, and urge him to oppose 9495 (in case there is a push to add 9495 to the Defense authorization). Call him via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or submit a message through this page of his website:
Washington State: Contact Senator Murray, who is Chair of Appropriations Committee (in case there is an attempt to add 9495 to a year-end funding package). Call her via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or submit a message through this page of her website:
Maine: Contact Senator King, who was the lead Democratic sponsor of a version of this bill earlier this year, and he still is apparently supportive of this one right now. He believes it has enough due process to make it ok. Please urge him to drop his support for it. Let him know that the due process in the bill is deeply inadequate. Call him via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or submit a message through this page of his website:
(4) Learn more about the bill. Find actions, articles, and analysis in Fund the People’s Toolkit to Stop the Nonprofit-Killer Bill:
(5) Make sure your informal professional networks and the membership associations to which you belong know about this and are actively opposing it!
Meanwhile, funders, you should start mobilizing money, as we will need resources to organize efforts to stop not just this bill, but other attacks on our sector and on democracy itself. We’re going to have to be organized, as this is a taste of what’s to come from this new administration.
