The House is about to vote on a bill that would give broad and easily abused new powers to the executive branch to allow the Secretary of Treasury to strip a U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status. Tell Congress to vote NO on H.R. 9495. https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-not-to-weaponize-the-treasury-department-against-nonprofits
@eff Uh, the vote already happened and it passed with 54(!) Dem votes
UPDATE: Bullet not dodged, there's another vote next week. It still needs a 2/3 majority do we still have a chance to stop it, but we still need to mobilize.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-to-oppose-hr-6408s-4136/ is an action to contact congress.
.....
It did already happen and 54 (!) dems did indeed vote for it, but fortunately it needed a 2/3 majority to pass so it didn't actually pass. Bullet dodged, whew.
I thought it was dead for this session so am not sure why EFF's posting about it again.
Fair enough, I just meant the vote did already happen. But: "the House of Representatives will again bring it up for a vote next week". Goddamn it. At least that explains why EFF is posting about it.
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/hr-9495-a-threat-to-free-speech-says-oxfam-america/
@thenexusofprivacy @pixelpusher220 I guess I need to read the bill, and probably the ones "around" it so that I can better grasp what it might and might not allow the executive branch to do and to whom.
I dunno, non-profit doesn't necessarily mean good. Many have rendered now-retired multimillionaire CEOs with questionable, or simply unpegged, practices. When orgs don't file full-business style, there's a whole lot flying under the radar.
Yeah no.
The point here is not that *some* non-profits aren't run squeaky clean.
The point here is that the executive branch simply decrees 'this one is a terrorist' and poof it ceases to function.
This is EXACTLY how Putin is shutting down opposition groups and is EXACTLY how Trump will use this power.
It will not be used to 'improve' governance of non-profits in any way shape or form except perhaps unintentionally.
@pixelpusher220 @thenexusofprivacy I get that the gist of the article, I'm not clued into what the current and proposed legislation says.
If we're going to weather this, we can't take every gesture the right or this administration takes as an immediate existential threat. We'll run out of ammo, gas, men, tanks you name it. We need to zoom in and use every bullet wisely.
We don't know what he'll do for sure.
I literally don't have it in me to panic. I am spent.
Every civil rights non-profit in the country has been mobilizing against this since September, so I don't think the concerns are overrated. If we're going to weather this we need to push back as hard as possible against every single attempt to overreach. That doesn't mean panicking, and if you're too spent to get involved in this particular battle that's fine -- we do need to conserve our energy. But progressives and people who care about civil liberties collectively have the capacity to push the Dems hard on issues like this and absolutely need to.
@janisf @thenexusofprivacy I'm all for focused aim versus everything that slithers.
But "benefit of the doubt" is currently enjoying its time on vacay in the Azores.
He gets none. Especially when it's a straight line to abuse already in use in other totalitarian regimes.
Good Day
@pixelpusher220 @thenexusofprivacy I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt. What I want to do is move away from using this Mastodon account of mine in this panicky way that is clearly isn't effective.
I will actually read the legislation. I have my state & fed Reps' & Senators' web-contact pages bookmarked, & their phone numbers & office addresses in my contacts because i use them that often.
More power to you.
Makes sense. One of the best privacy activists I know here in Washington stte has exactly the same philsophy of reading the bill first.
Here's the ACLU et al's letter from September outlying concerns, I don't think the current version' of the bill has changed much if at all. https://www.aclu.org/documents/civil-society-letter-to-congress-opposing-hr-9495
@thenexusofprivacy @pixelpusher220
Holy s*.
..."to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations,
and for other purposes."
And it does not go on to specify what purposes.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9495/text
@eff OK, so, most of these are churches, and I expect most of the people here aren't Christian Nationalists.
Folks, something's got to give, here. No sweeping legislation can target non-profits who seek political influence, and we are diseased with a religious minority who has maxed out an exploit to the point the system is about to short.
I'm happy to fundraise for non-profits who are willing to make the necessary shifts to save our democracy from religious rule.
Republicans are split.