Can I worry at you? Understand, I am not a political animal. I vote during elections at all levels here in Canada, but between elections, honestly I pay very little attention. But sometimes I have to. With the new U.S. administration taking over, U.S. Bill HR 9495 is likely to be passed and signed into law. It’s a bill that has been called “the Non-Profit Killer”.
The official name of the bill is “Stop Terror Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act”. It is ostensibly aimed at preventing individuals and organisations from supporting foreign and local terrorist groups.
In a joint statement opposing the bill, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, National Council of Nonprofits, and United Philanthropy Forum point out that “It is already illegal to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations. Organizations suspected of violating the law are rightly subject to criminal investigation and prosecution. Section 4 of H.R.9495 may achieve the goal of expediting these cases, but it does so at the expense of fairness and transparency.”
When the bill was first introduced, in December, 2023, it was understood to be an attempt to limit protests over Israeli actions in Gaza. But it could do more than that. Beth Gazley, an Indiana University professor who specialises in non-profit management, stated in an interview with PBS that she felt that it was part of a strategy to “pre-empt opposition to Republican policies, and encourage self-censorship”.
The bill is written using such vague wording that it is easy for it to be abused.
Professor Gazley stated “This kind of law could become a blunt sword that can be used against everybody.” A broad swath of current social impact organisations are at risk of falling under it. As it is written, the Secretary of the Treasury could revoke an organisation’s charitable status without even sharing evidence with that organisation, and providing only 90 days to prove their innocence. In other words, an organisation who helps refugees, for example, could lose their status if the administration, at the Secretary’s discretion, decides that helping refugees supports terrorism.
And that’s only the most obvious issue with the Non-Profit Killer.
Even if they could successfully defend themselves, the negative publicity could cause the organisation to lose funding, volunteers and the trust of the community.
In addition to harming the organisation itself, any foundation that funds an accused organisation could lose their status as well. Meaning that funders are going to be significantly less likely to provide grants to organisations that they think the current administration might frown upon. The “self-censorship” that Professor Gazley spoke about.
Also, any individual or organisation that publicly defends the refugee organisation could draw unwanted attention to themselves.
In other words, it puts an effective, self-imposed gag on free speech.
And as soon as that gag is firmly in place, the administration could take full control of who is or who is not supported and welcomed into society. If you could be called out for supporting terrorism for doing it, how likely are you to go to a Black Lives Matter march? Or volunteer with an organisation that supports same-sex marriage? Or even write social media posts disagreeing with government policy? It will encourage people to close their eyes to injustices in our society in the interests of self-preservation. And history has shown that that kind of self-willed blindness leads to atrocities.
“But I’m not American”, you say. “This bill won’t affect me.”
I’m not American either. I’m Canadian, and no such bill is anywhere near our Parliament. Yet. But that doesn’t mean it won’t affect all of us. When the leadership of one country, especially such a powerful one, starts down the road of threats and censorship, the right-wing partisans in all other countries sit up and take notice. Unfortunately, the world’s political pendulum is swinging to the right in most countries. Far-right politics is on the rise. If the Non-Profit Killer bill goes through in the U.S., it will have copycats around the world. You may not be American, but it will affect you.
If you are American, fight now – while you have the chance.
Contact your representative and express your concerns. Encourage them to vote against the bill if it comes up. Highlight the aspects of passing the bill that will negatively affect them and their party. The higher costs of government having to “cure” rather than non-profits providing “prevention”. How many fewer people will vote for them next election. Any other argument you can come up with to convince them that this is a bad idea.
As I said at the beginning, I am not someone who follows politics.
This Non-Profit Killer bill, though, doesn’t strike me as a political statement so much as it does a statement against our common humanity. This may seem melodramatic to you, but I saw a meme the other day that read “the road to fascism is lined with people saying ‘don’t overreact’”. If we become afraid to stand by those in our society who are most in need, we will ourselves get trodden under. It’s happened before.
Thank you for listening to me worry.
