The House of Representatives will vote on a bill targeting nonprofits accused of supporting terrorism

U.S. law prohibits nonprofit organizations from supporting terrorist organizations. However, to enforce this ban, the government must provide evidence of a violation, triggering a legal process that can be lengthy and arduous.

In the more than two decades since the current law took effect after the attacks of September 11, 2001 the law has rarely led to penalties: nine charities have lost their tax-exempt status under these provisions.

A bipartisan bill A major vote is scheduled to take place on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The aim is to find a new way to achieve this goal without the existing legal hurdles. The bill would be submitted to the finance minister new powers to independently classify any non-profit organization as a terrorist supporting organization and revoked his tax-exempt status almost immediately.

A version of the bill was introduced after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, and passed the House of Representatives in April, amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses that many pro-Israel groups labeled “pro-Hamas.” The bill received broad bipartisan support by a vote of 382 to 11 but failed in the Senate.

Now the new version of the bill is dividing Jewish groups. Centralist and conservative groups support the bill as an urgent measure to curb support for terrorism. Progressive organizations reject it as a threat to political dissent – and fear that the powers it brings will be abused by the new Trump administration to crack down on groups that oppose their policies.

At a hearing in September, Robert Harvey, an expert on the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation in Congress, said the administration was not required to disclose how it reached its decision or provide evidence of wrongdoing.

“My understanding is that all the treasurer needs to do to deny tax exemption is send a notice to the organization in question: 'You are an organization that supports terrorism. We have found that you are providing material support and that is being rejected.' Your exception?'” Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett asked Harvey: according to The Intercept.

“That's right, Mr. Doggett,” Harvey replied.

Lawmakers supporting the bill say the government needs a better tool to prevent terrorist organizations from being subsidized by American taxpayers. Her position is supported by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Republican Jewish Coalition.

The bill would allow the Treasury Department to take action against U.S.-registered charities that it finds have supported groups designated by the United States as terrorist organizations — including, for example, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which have theirs have a seat in Gaza, and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Following the decision, the Treasury Department would notify the charity and give it 90 days to file a court action before losing its tax-exempt status. Republican Rep. David Kustoff of Tennessee, one of the bill's two Jewish co-sponsors alongside Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, says the issue is not theoretical: He claims that tax-free donations are currently flowing to terrorist organizations, although neither he nor any other supporters of the draft law have given concrete examples.

“To put it bluntly clearly“Domestic financiers of terrorism are currently subsidized with U.S. taxpayer dollars,” Kustoff said earlier this year. “Let me be clear: No American should receive a tax break for financing terrorism.”

The RJC said the bill was intended to ensure that Hamas and other terrorist organizations do not receive funding from U.S. nonprofits and portrayed it as a tool against groups that attack American Jews and Israel.

“Congress is right to address the threat posed by organizations that use tax-exempt funds to support Hamas and other terrorist groups,” RJC said in a statement. “In case last week’s election results didn’t make it clear, the days of impunity for anti-Semitic extremists who target the Jewish state and Jewish Americans are over.”

Critics of the bill say it gives too much power to the government and that it could be used to silence political dissent – particularly from pro-Palestinian organizations that have no ties to terror groups but are nonetheless branded as supporters of Hamas could. The bill's language prohibits the provision of “material support or resources,” a category defined in the law that opponents say could still be interpreted broadly. They also worry that the new Trump administration could use the bill to punish groups that focus on typically progressive issues such as reproductive justice, the environment and encouraging immigration.

The American Civil Liberties Union spearheaded opposition to the bill, with support from voices on both sides of the political spectrum. The libertarian Cato Institute And Reason The magazine, for example, spoke out against the bill. So have several progressive American Jewish groups such as Bend the Arc and the New Israel Fund.

“This bill is as dangerous as it is inconsequential,” the New Israel Fund, which donates to civil society groups in Israel, many of which are left-leaning, said in a statement. “The United States already has a thorough process in place to determine whether a group provides material support to terrorism. This would result in the system being deprived of due process and a terrorist designation being readily possible.”

The bill is scheduled for a full vote in the House on Tuesday, after which it would need to be approved by the Senate and signed by the president.

The current version of the bill is identical to the one passed in April, except that it was combined with another bill aimed at relieving tax deadlines and penalties for American hostages and political prisoners held abroad. The ACLU believes The Combining this with a benign bill is a ploy to weaken the likelihood of opposition.