America can fight terrorism while protecting our liberties. The U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 21 passed a bill that does the opposite. H.R. 9495 is by Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-New York. Dubbed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, the bill combines some good with a whole lot of bad.
On the positive side, it postpones tax filings for Americans held hostage abroad by terrorists, such as those still held by Hamas in Gaza. Who could possibly oppose that?
But here’s the negative side, as summarized by the House, “The bill terminates the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.” The authority to terminate that vague sentence is given to the secretary of the Treasury.
Co-author Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, said on the House floor, “The financing of terrorism and extremism should not have preferential treatment under the U.S. tax code. I think this should be a no-brainer.” What’s really a no-brainer is H.R. 9495 shreds the Bill of Rights. The legislation’s text stipulates the determination of “terrorist supporting” can be “based on classified information.”
Free societies don’t operate in secret. This is an obvious violation of the Eighth Amendment right of the accused “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” If a person or group is committing actual terrorist acts, existing laws can be applied. America has no shortage of laws, after all, but rather a glut of poorly designed laws such as this.
The bill is opposed by 354 civil rights groups, including the ACLU and the NAACP. “The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 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,” they warned.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warned H.R. 9495, should it pass the Senate, would give the Treasury secretary “unchecked power to declare nonprofit groups ‘terrorist supporting organizations.’” Only a lengthy and costly court battle could get the designation removed.
If we have learned anything from the post-9/11 civil liberties abuses, it’s that government will always stretch the limits of any authority given to it. Liberty must never be ceded so casually by the American people. Laws must be clear, direct and limited in scope. Blank checks to the federal government are always going to be misused.
Related Articles
Trump channels Newsom, Biden with Labor Secretary pick
Taken seriously, Trump’s plans for mass deportation are ridiculous
Burgum is a bright spot in Trump picks
The JFK assassination still haunts us
Conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. is wrong choice for a cabinet post
The bill passed the House 219 to 184, with 15 Democrats joining 204 Republicans. Among Southern California representatives, the bill mistakenly was backed by Republicans Michelle Steel, Young Kim, Ken Calvert, Vince Fong, Jay Obernolte, Darrell Issa and Mike Garcia; and by Democrats Mike Levin and Norma Torres.
Commendably opposing were Democrats Grace Napolitano, Tony Cárdenas, Judy Chu, Pete Aguilar, Brad Sherman, Maxine Waters, Robert Garcia, Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs, Scott Peters, Jimmy Gomez, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Nanette Barragán, Linda Sánchez, Mark Takano, Lou Correa, Ted Lieu and Adam Schiff. Katie Porter didn’t vote.
On Nov. 5 voters promoted Schiff to the Senate and he will take his seat as soon as the special election is certified by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. We look forward to him leading the opposition to this and other attacks on our liberties. We can provide tax relief to hostages without assaulting civil liberties. It’s not that complicated.