Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 9495, the Stop-Terror Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which has been the subject of political hysteria since the election of President Trump on November 5.

I want to be clear to my Democratic colleagues, most of whom supported Congressman Kustoff's legislation last April, about what this bill actually does.

The bill does two things: It allows the IRS to waive penalties for late taxes on Americans held hostage abroad. While the IRS can waive penalties on the back end when the taxpayer returns home, this would allow them to do it on the front end to ensure that returning hostages and their families, who have endured unimaginable hardship, don't have the burden of having to deal with it upon return.

It directs the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit found to be providing financial support to a terrorist organization. Right now, an entity must be deemed a terrorist organization itself to lose its tax-exempt status. This bill says that if a nonprofit provides material support to a designated terrorist group, they will also lose that status. This bill and parts of this bill have received strong bipartisan support on multiple occasions from this Congress.

H.R. 9495 passed unanimously out of Ways and Means in September by a vote of 38-0, including and with the support of Ranking Member Richard Neal, along with Mr. Doggett.

The portion of this bill to terminate the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations supporting terrorist groups, H.R. 6408, led by my fabulous colleague Representative Kustoff, also passed unanimously out of Ways and Means last year as a standalone bill by a vote of 41-0, and the House passed it overwhelmingly by a vote of 382-11. That is resounding, in my book.

Legislation preventing the IRS from imposing fines and tax penalties on Americans held hostage upon their return was approved by unanimous consent in the Senate. It is shameful that Democrats who supported this commonsense position are now opposing it and citing the election of President Trump as the reason and also manufacturing concerns about the targeting of nonprofits' tax-exempt status for unrelated purposes.

I want to clarify, Treasury can only revoke tax-exempt status under this legislation if the nonprofit in question is providing material support to terrorist groups designated under longstanding statutory standards. There are no changes to those standards or the executive branch's ability to make those designations. There is even an opportunity to cure included in this bill where the organization can make reasonable efforts to recoup funds given to the terrorist organization--imagine that--given to a terrorist organization and certify in writing to Treasury that they will not provide any further support to said organization and they will not lose their nonprofit status.

Organizations abusing tax-exempt status to funnel money to terrorist organizations has been a pervasive issue, which was exposed by Chairman Smith's ongoing investigation into various nonprofit groups' ties to foreign terrorist organizations.

This is a crucial time for Congress to act and to make it clear that we stand for our fellow citizens who have endured unthinkable circumstances abroad, like my constituent, Ryan Corbett of Dansville, New York. He is husband to Anna, and he and his wife are the parents of three children, Ketsia, Miriam, and Caleb. Today marks the 834th day since he has been wrongfully detained by the Taliban in a 9-by-9-foot cell. It is a tragic situation.

In closing, I urge my colleagues, especially my Democratic colleagues, not to put their hatred of President Trump and I daresay Trump derangement syndrome--by the way, there is no vaccine and no cure that we know of right now for that, which is obvious from what we are seeing on the other side--and let's not put the needs of terrorist adversaries ahead of helping American hostages and their families and stopping the flow of cash to terrorists that are actively working to harm the United States, by supporting H.R. 9495.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to grab some common sense and allow this bill to pass and put some relief finally in the hands of the people who greatly need it, those in harm's way.

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