TODAY: Call your rep: No on HR 9495. Protect nonprofit advocacy.

Under HR 9495, the Treasury Dept could cancel a nonprofit's tax-exempt status without reason or evidence. This would give the executive branch the power to crush nonprofit advocacy. The bill is called the "Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act." You can read it (PDF). It's opposed by the ACLU and over a hundred other orgs.

Thanks to a rapid response of people who called their House reps, it was voted down last week. It would have needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

But today (Mon, Nov 18), it's back for a hearing in the Rules Committee.

Do this right now, recommends Shay Stewart-Bouley on the Black Girl in Maine blog:

1. Call your Rep's DC office (not their local office).
2. Be respectful and brief with the person who answers. Ask for the name & email of the staffer who handles tax bills.
3. Email that staffer (again, respectfully and briefly): "No on HR 9495, should it come to the full House for a vote."

The staffer who answers the phone might say "you can just give that message to me verbally." That's what happened when I called my Massachusetts rep's DC office just now.

Are you on Bluesky? Give it a quick share.

Thanks to Shay. If you'd like to support her financially, do it through her PayPal or Patreon. You can also hire her as an anti-racism speaker.