After 17 hours of markup, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill.’ Section 112209, previously known as the ‘Nonprofit Killer Bill,’ would give the Treasury Secretary an unchecked, unilateral power to remove tax exempt status from any nonprofit deemed a ‘terrorist-supporting organization’ without due process or justification. Any nonprofit in the United States can be affected by this bill, including religious organizations, universities, hospitals, homeless shelters, social justice groups and more. This is a dangerous move towards authoritarian control that undermines the non-profit infrastructure of our American democracy.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted 26-19 on the bill as a provision in a larger reconciliation package on Wednesday, May 14. The Committee’s leadership, Chair Jason Smith (MO-8), placed the appalling bill language among layers of other tax and budget related legislation. This bill is now on its way to the House floor for a vote and still has a long journey ahead before being implemented.
This bill will give the Trump Administration the unrestricted ability to silence and dismantle any non-profit which criticizes President Trump or disagrees with his ideologies. Not only is this a clear attack on United States democracy and the First Amendment, this is an escalating rung in Trump’s ladder to American dictatorship. Regardless of political ideologies, no administration should have the unchecked power to attack and dismember nonprofits that they view as dissenters. To be clear, the federal government already has the power to challenge tax exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations, yet this piece of legislation will remove mandatory due process for nonprofits to have a fair and just avenue to defend themselves.
This Administration has repeatedly made it evident that it is focused on eliminating those in opposition, such as the media, universities, and law firms. This bill is no exception, and NHMC will stand by our fellow nonprofits in the fight against this injustice.
Yours in the Movement,
Brenda Victoria Castillo
President & CEO National Hispanic Media Coalition