One June 13th, the House Appropriations Committeewill take up a bill with the harmful anti-Johnson Amendment rider. Section 112 of the Financial Services and General Government FY2019 spending bill would effectively block enforcement of the Johnson Amendment against “churches” and their auxiliaries – even when they engage in egregious, partisan activities. The rider offers no reductions or lessening of the restrictions on enforcement against secular organizations and leaders, thus creating a framework that explicitly encourages discriminatory enforcement of the law. All 501(c)(3) organizations should recognize that weakening the protections of the Johnson Amendment for any of us weakens it for all of us. Because of this, we need you to take action today. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative to deliver this message:
Partisanship has NO place in charitable organizations – whether houses of worship, charitable nonprofits, or private foundations. Vote to remove Section 112 from the FSGG bill.
It is especially important for you to call if you are represented by Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse, or Derek Kilmer since they sit on the Appropriations Committee: they are the best positioned Representatives from our state to get this harmful provision removed. You can review our press release calling on them to use their position to remove the provision here. Please contact us to let us know you’ve called or if you have questions.