House Democratic support for bill on terror-supporting nonprofits plummets
Just 15 Democrats voted for the bill, down from 52 last week
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Many House Democrats withdrew their support for a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for the federal government to strip nonprofits providing material or financial support to designated terrorist groups, with just 15 House Democrats voting for the legislation on Thursday.
The declining support among Democrats followed warnings from outside liberal groups, as well as a growing number of liberal and nonpartisan Jewish organizations, that the bill could provide sweeping powers to the incoming Trump administration.
An initial version of the bill saw nearly unanimous support in the House — just 10 Democrats and one Republican voted against it. When a new version of the bill came up for a vote last week, just 52 Democrats supported it with 144 opposed. The bill passed by a 219-184 vote on Thursday.
The legislation has been the subject of a lobbying campaign from the ACLU and progressive groups, some of which have branded the legislation as a “nonprofit killer” and claimed it would allow the incoming Trump administration to arbitrarily shut down nonprofits it dislikes. A growing list of Jewish groups — including the Reform and Conservative movements — also joined the opposition, while AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League supported the bill.
On Thursday, the Democrats who supported the bill included Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), Ed Case (D-HI), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Susie Lee (D-NV), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), JImmy Panetta (D-CA), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Norma Torres (D-CA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
All are pro-Israel moderate Democrats.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the only Republican who opposed the bill, for the third time.
Pro-Israel Democrats who flipped against the bill in the past week cited a deluge of concerns from constituents about the legislation.
Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) said she supports the legislation’s objectives but had heard “genuine fears that this law could be weaponized for political purposes against nonprofits that have no connection to terrorist organizations” from constituents.
She said that President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks had raised “serious concerns about who might be in a position to wield the power that would be granted under this bill, and I believe additional safeguards are warranted.”
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) also said it was “important to me to vote alongside the will of the thousands of constituents and stakeholders” who had reached out to her with concerns about the bill.
The legislation combined two previous bills, the nonprofit legislation as well as a bill that would provide relief from tax penalties to U.S. hostages held abroad.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said she had voted for the bill last week in support of the hostage provisions of the legislation, but said she understood the “real fears” about the nonprofit portion of the bill and “the dangerous possibility the Trump administration could weaponize this power.”
She said that the bill has “renewed the urgency for Democrats to develop a strategy to address a problem we’re often faced with: misleading messaging bills designed by Republicans to advance their own partisan goals, or terrible policies tacked on to reasonable bills to force us to take votes like this one.”
Dingell’s statement didn’t address her support for the original version of the nonprofits bill, which didn’t include the hostage legislation.