J Street is dismayed at the passage of HR 9495 in the House. We continue to stand proudly alongside our Jewish and pro-democracy allies – including HIAS, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Union for Reform Judaism and the ACLU – in opposing this legislation.
“We actively lobbied against this bill and are deeply disappointed it passed the House. We’ll continue to oppose it in the Senate and rally alongside the ACLU and allied Jewish groups to urge senators to vote no,” said J Street Deputy Director of Government Affairs Lily Adelstein.
J Street joined more than 50 American Jewish groups in a joint letter to Congress calling on members to oppose the legislation. “Rather than enhancing the country’s safety, the bill threatens to politicize decisions that should be made neutrally and deliberatively,” the letter read.
J Street strongly supports the first three sections of this legislation and the common-sense accommodations that they provide to individuals who have endured the horrors of being held hostage, including the Americans who have been held for over a year by Hamas. We urge those sections to be enacted into law separately as soon as possible.
The remaining provisions of the bill, which J Street opposes, would allow the Treasury Secretary to unilaterally designate an American non-profit a “terrorist supporting organization” and to revoke its tax-exempt status – undermining due process and chilling free speech. Legislation and processes already exist to revoke non-profit status and punish groups found to be supporting terror.
“There are already laws on the books to address these issues,” Adelstein said. “This just opens the door to political abuse at a moment when we have an incoming president who has made his contempt for civil society and freedom of speech and assembly crystal clear.”