MAGA Reps. Are Pushing a Bill to Allow the Trump Admin to Dismantle Progressive Groups
IMEU Policy Project Memo #13
This is outrageous. The very first day–November 12–that Congress is back in session after the elections, MAGA Representatives are trying to ram through a bill under suspension that would empower the incoming Trump administration to dismantle progressive organizations by stripping away their nonprofit status through unilateral actions by the Treasury Secretary.
More than 120 civil society organizations, including the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, NAACP, and Public Citizen, to name a few, oppose this bill because “the potential for abuse under” this bill “is immense as the executive branch would be handed a tool it could use to curb free speech, censor nonprofit media outlets, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups across the political spectrum. Moreover, the addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the IRS to explicitly target and harass domestic nonprofits using its investigative authority.”
The bill is also opposed by Jewish nonprofits such as Jewish Voice for Peace Action.
For the past 14 months, as Israel has inflicted genocidal violence against Palestinians with the full political and military backing of the Biden administration, millions of Americans have taken to the streets to call for a ceasefire, an arms embargo on Israel, and for Palestinian rights.
In repeated public opinion polls, it has been shown that these demands are supported by a majority of all Americans and by even greater majorities of Democratic voters.
MAGA Republicans have made absurd and false claims about the movement for Palestinian rights. Let’s be clear: it’s the First Amendment right of Americans to form nonprofit organizations to educate the public about Israel’s apartheid rule over the Palestinian people and its denial of Palestinian rights, and, to the extent permitted by law, to advocate to change those policies of the US government that make us complicit in Israel’s denial of rights to the Palestinian people.
MAGA Republicans have made it obvious that they seek to dismantle US nonprofit organizations which speak out about Palestinian rights in order to suppress speech in support of the Palestinian people and make it easier for Israel to maintain its oppressive status quo.
This strategy is spelled out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther, a corollary to its Project 2025. This document seeks to “dismantle” nonprofit organizations advocating for Palestinian rights by stripping them of their tax-exempt status. This is exactly what H.R.9495 seeks to accomplish.
The movement for Palestinian rights is the canary in the coal mine. When states began adopting unconstitutional laws designed to punish and suppress First Amendment protected speech and action to advance boycotts for Palestinian freedom, these laws were then used as templates to shut down activism for Black rights and climate justice.
Enacting this dangerous law as the Trump administration prepares to take office will embolden it to repress a broad swath of organizations working to advance causes such as immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights, to name just a few other movements which are currently in the crosshairs of the MAGA Republicans’ agenda.
Image: Sangsorn, Jorm. Political Art, Concept Idea of Free Speech. Shutterstock, ID: 1871077861, https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/political-art-concept-idea-free-speech-1871077861.