11/22/24 UPDATE: On Thursday, the House passed a bill that would give the Treasury Secretary new power to stifle dissent and go after political enemies, Hundreds of thousands of people contacted their members of Congress opposing H.R. 9495 and over 30 members changed their votes. While this bill passed the House, one thing is clear: Opposition is working. We will keep up the fight and urge the Senate to vote NO on this bill.
In a clear reaction to pro-Palestine protests, the Senate might pass legislation that would hand the government a dangerous tool to stifle free speech and punish disfavored groups. We must take action. This bill (H.R. 9495) gives the executive branch the authority to effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization it deems to have provided "material support" to terrorist groups and the potential for abuse under this law is staggering.
We've already seen government officials conflate protesting students with Hamas or other terrorist groups. It isn't a stretch to imagine how this bill could be used to pressure universities to shut down student groups and further criminalize dissent in this country. Knowing the U.S. government's long history of abusive and discriminatory material support investigations and prosecutions in the post-9/11 era – disproportionately against Muslims and charities – we cannot allow this bill to pass. Tell your Senators to vote no on this civil society attack bill.
