By Jimmy Boegle
As the 118th Congress enters its final weeks, I am very closely following two pieces of legislation—one of which would be a boon to press freedom, and another which poses a serious threat.
The PRESS Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously, and is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate. As the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press explains: “The PRESS Act would bar the federal government from using subpoenas, search warrants, or other compulsory actions against journalists to force the disclosure of information identifying confidential sources as well as other newsgathering records, except in very limited circumstances. It would also broadly limit the government’s ability to use the same actions against third parties, including email providers and search engines, to seize journalists’ data, with narrow exceptions.”
One would think the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats until Jan. 3, would be in favor of this. However, there’s a huge obstacle now in the way named Donald Trump. As The New York Times explains:
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday instructed congressional Republicans to block the passage of a bipartisan federal shield bill intended to strengthen the ability of reporters to protect confidential sources, dealing a potentially fatal political blow to the measure—even though the Republican-controlled House had already passed it unanimously.
The call by Mr. Trump makes it less likely that the bill—the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, or PRESS Act—will reach the Senate floor and be passed before the current session of Congress ends next month. Even one senator can hold up the bill, chewing up many hours of Senate floor time that could be spent on confirming judges or passing other legislation deemed to be a higher priority.
Mr. Trump issued the edict in a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday afternoon. Citing a “PBS NewsHour” report about the federal shield legislation, he wrote: “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!”
Mr. Trump has exhibited extreme hostility to mainstream news reporters, whom he has often referred to as “enemies of the people.” In his first term as president, he demanded a crackdown on leaks that eventually entailed secretly seizing the private communications of reporters, including some from The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.
Here’s hoping the Senate somehow finds a way to get this bill passed and to the desk of President Joe Biden.
As for the bill about which I am deeply, deeply concerned: On Nov. 21, in a 219-184, mostly party-line vote, House Republicans passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would give the Treasury Department the unilateral ability to remove the tax-exempt status of any nonprofits it deems to be supporting terrorism.
I think we can all agree that supporting terrorism is bad. But the authority this bill would give the treasury secretary—and their boss, the president—is terrifying. The ACLU and 353 other organizations, in a letter to House leaders, wrote: “If this bill were to become law, the Secretary of Treasury could strip a U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status without providing the nonprofit a meaningful opportunity to defend itself before a neutral decisionmaker. The legislation further does not require disclosure of all the reasons for such a decision or the evidence relied upon to support it. Nor would the government be required to provide any evidence in its possession that might undermine its decision, leaving an accused nonprofit entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support.”
According to Free Press Action Policy Counsel Jenna Ruddock: “The addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the Treasury Department to explicitly target, harass and investigate thousands of organizations that make up civil society, including nonprofit newsrooms, in the United States. The language of the bill lacks any safeguards against abuse, and puts the burden of proof on organizations rather than on the government. It’s extremely likely that the Trump administration would use it to exact revenge on groups that have raised questions about or simply angered the president-elect and other officials in his orbit.”
Yikes.
Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto: Please do everything you can to make sure the PRESS Act gets passed, and that the so-called “Stop Terror Financing” bill is defeated. A LOT of our freedoms depend on it.
Cheers,
—Jimmy Boegle, publisher/executive editor of the Reno News & Review
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