This week, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee moved forward with a proposal that would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to strip any U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status by unilaterally determining the organization is a “Terrorist Supporting Organization.” This proposal, which places nearly unlimited discretion in the hands of the executive branch to target organizations it disagrees with, poses an existential threat to nonprofits across the U.S. 

This proposal, added to the House’s budget reconciliation bill, is an exact copy of a House-passed bill that EFF and hundreds of nonprofits across the country strongly opposed last fall. Thankfully, the Senate rejected that bill, and we urge the House to do the same when the budget reconciliation bill comes up for a vote on the House floor. 

The goal of this proposal is not to stop the spread of or support for terrorism; the U.S. already has myriad other laws that do that, including existing tax code section 501(p), which allows the government to revoke the tax status of designated “Terrorist Organizations.” Instead, this proposal is designed to inhibit free speech by discouraging nonprofits from working with and advocating on behalf of disadvantaged individuals and groups, like Venezuelans or Palestinians, who may be associated, even completely incidentally, with any group the U.S. deems a terrorist organization. And depending on what future groups this administration decides to label as terrorist organizations, it could also threaten those advocating for racial justice, LGBTQ rights, immigrant communities, climate action, human rights, and other issues opposed by this administration. 

On top of its threats to free speech, the language lacks due process protections for targeted nonprofit organizations. In addition to placing sole authority in the hands of the Treasury Secretary, the bill does not require the Treasury Secretary to disclose the reasons for or evidence supporting a “Terrorist Supporting Organization” designation. This, combined with only providing an after-the-fact administrative or judicial appeals process, would place a nearly insurmountable burden on any nonprofit to prove a negative—that they are not a terrorist supporting organization—instead of placing the burden where it should be, on the government. 

As laid out in letter led by ACLU and signed by over 350 diverse nonprofits, this bill would provide the executive branch with: 

“the authority to target its political opponents and use the fear of crippling legal fees, the stigma of the designation, and donors fleeing controversy to stifle dissent and chill speech and advocacy. And while the broadest applications of this authority may not ultimately hold up in court, the potential reputational and financial cost of fending off an investigation and litigating a wrongful designation could functionally mean the end of a targeted nonprofit before it ever has its day in court.” 

Current tax law makes it a crime for the President and other high-level officials to order IRS investigations over policy disagreements. This proposal creates a loophole to this rule that could chill nonprofits for years to come. 

There is no question that nonprofits and educational institutions – along with many other groups and individuals – are under threat from this administration. If passed, future administrations, regardless of party affiliation, could weaponize the powers in this bill against nonprofits of all kinds. We urge the House to vote down this proposal. 

Enacting strong federal consumer data privacy laws is among EFF’s highest priorities. For decades, EFF has advocated for federal privacy law that is concrete, ambitious, and fully protective of all Americans’ data privacy.

That’s why, when the House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently established a Privacy Working Group and asked for comments on what we’d like to see from a Data Security and Privacy Framework, EFF was pleased to offer our thoughts.

Our comments highlight several key points. For one, we urge Congress not to weaken current federal privacy law or create new policy that supplants stronger state laws. A law that overrides strong state protections would hurt consumers and prevent states from protecting their constituents. 

We also urge Congress to include the most important tool to ensure that privacy laws have real bite: the individual right to sue over privacy violations. As we say in our comments:

It is not enough for the government to pass laws that protect consumers from corporations that harvest and monetize their personal data. It is also necessary to ensure companies do not ignore them. The best way to do so is to empower consumers to bring their own lawsuits against the companies that violate their privacy rights. Strong “private rights of action” are among EFF’s highest priorities in any data privacy legislation.

Additionally, we reiterate that any strong privacy law must include these components:

• No online behavioral ads.
• Data minimization.
• Opt-in consent.
• User rights to access, port, correct, and delete information.
• No preemption of stronger state laws.
• Strong enforcement with a private right of action.
• No pay-for-privacy schemes.
• No deceptive design.

As we have said in our Privacy First white paper, a strong privacy law would also help us address online harms, protect children, support journalism, protect access to health care, foster digital justice, limit private data collection to train generative AI, limit foreign government surveillance, and strengthen competition.

EFF thanks the committee for the opportunity to weigh in. We invite further conversation to develop strong, comprehensive law that affirms the privacy and civil rights of all American consumers. You can read our full comments here: 

• EFF Comments to the House Committee on Energy & Commerce - Privacy Working Group

On Monday, March 10, EFF sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment Act (STOP CSAM Act) ahead of a committee hearing on the bill. 

EFF opposed the original and amended versions of this bill in the previous Congress, and we are concerned to see the Committee moving to consider the same flawed ideas in the current Congress. 

At its core, STOP CSAM endangers encrypted messages – jeopardizing the privacy, security, and free speech of every American and fundamentally altering our online communications. In the digital world, end-to-end encryption is our best chance to maintain both individual and national security. Particularly in the wake of the major breach of telecom systems in October 2024 from Salt Typhoon, a sophisticated Chinese-government backed hacking group, legislators should focus on bolstering encryption, not weakening it. In fact, in response to this breach, a top U.S. cybersecurity chief said “encryption is your friend.”  

Given its significant problems and potential vast impact on internet users, we urge the Committee to reject this bill.