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Rep. Jared Golden should please explain his approval of H.R. 9495 that helped pass this allegedly anti-terrorist support bill, even after it was revealed to be a potential weapon the next president could use to target nonprofit organizations he doesn’t like. All U.S. House Republicans save one rushed to fast-track it, using a procedure they mistakenly believed would require a simple majority when it, instead, required a two-thirds majority. When it failed, Republicans resubmitted it after correcting the procedure so it would pass with a simple majority.
The 52 Democratic representatives who voted yes the first time dropped to 15 after Democrats flooded D.C. switchboards to protest. (I called Golden’s office twice, once before each vote.) The other 37 Democratic representatives must have seen the light and voted against what I think is a sinister plot to subvert free speech and thus the freedom and constitutional right for non-profits to dissent.
Now President-elect Donald Trump is a senatorial vote away from being able to have his treasury secretary strip nonprofit status from, say, the Biodiversity Center for using the the Endangered Species Act to allegedly steal forest lands away from loggers to protect marbled murrelets, or to allegedly steal open range lands away from gas frackers to protect sage grouse. After only 90 days with no reasons given, Trump could strip such troublesome nonprofit defendants of their tax-exempt status for being terrorists.
I believe Democrats were helped to see the light. But not Mr. Golden. That he voted for it, not once but twice, is very troublesome.
David DePrez
Orland
