Congress: defend nonprofit workers

The NewsGuild-CWA is calling on all labor supporters to urge Congress to vote no on H.R. 9495

UPDATE (Nov. 21, 10 A.M.) — H.R. 9495 passed the House moments ago with a vote of 219-184. Stay tuned for future actions to stop the advancement of this anti-worker legislation. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 21, 2024) — This week the U.S. House of Representatives is voting on H.R. 9495, a bill which includes language that would give the Secretary of the Treasury almost unilateral power to strip the tax-exempt status from any nonprofit organization it deems to be “providing material support to terrorist organizations.” The law would not require Treasury officials to explain the reasoning behind the decision or for the department to provide evidence.

Such unilateral power could easily be abused by the incoming Trump administration to target political opponents, shut down newsrooms, and silence freedom of speech and affiliation in the United States.

The legislation was narrowly defeated in an earlier vote on November 12 because it failed to clear a 2/3rds majority vote in the House. House Republicans have reintroduced the bill in a second attempt to pass it and changed the rules so only a simple majority is needed to pass it and move it to the Senate.

During last week’s vote more than 50 House Democrats voted in favor of the bill, which would give future administrations the power to silence dissent and chill opposition without due process for those targeted, including Washington Congresswomen Marie Glusenkamp Perez, Kim Schrier, and Marilyn Strickland.

This legislation threatens nonprofit workers, including those at ProPublica, the Texas Tribune, Spotlight PA, American Civil Liberties Union affiliates, the Natural Resource Defense Council, Southern Poverty Law Center and more who are members of The NewsGuild-CWA.

TAKE A STAND: Send an email to your U.S. representative and ask them to vote NO on H.R. 9495 and preserve our free speech and the free press.