Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I also stand in opposition to H.R. 9495, which would provide this administration and any future administration with sweeping, unilateral authority to designate nonprofits as terror- supporting organizations and strip them of their tax-exempt status with no due process and without sufficient evidence. The authorities provided in this bill are unnecessary and extremely dangerous if they ever fall into the wrong hands.

This legislation would do nothing to improve our ability to combat terrorism because there are already numerous legal mechanisms that effectively monitor and penalize nonprofits that provide support to terrorist organizations. No one in this esteemed body wants any nonprofits to direct even $1 to a terrorist organization, and it is inappropriate to suggest otherwise.

In the hands of responsible government, the powers provided in this bill are redundant and duplicative. However, history is uncertain. Democracies, even ours, can wax and wane. Sometimes we have great Presidents, and sometimes we do not.

Under the leadership of an unscrupulous or authoritarian President, it is not hard to imagine how that administration could use the powers in this bill to hinder or dismantle organizations they don't like. Remember, there would be no due process, no right of appeal, no right to see the evidence against them, no path to cure.

It is deeply unfortunate this bill was combined with commonsense legislation--led by my friends, Representatives Dina Titus and Claudia Tenney, and me--that would have allowed the IRS to waive or postpone fines and fees on taxpayers who have been unlawfully detained or held hostage overseas and not been able to pay their taxes on time. I was pleased to see that piece of legislation unanimously pass the Senate earlier this year. However, its pairing with these deeply controversial provisions in H.R. 9495 risks those provisions ever becoming law.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 9495, and I hope that we can find a path forward to provide desperately needed relief for Americans who have been wrongfully detained overseas.

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Mr. BEYER. I have never been given that reason, no.

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