Dear Friend,
American Atheists’ policy team spent the week poring over House Republicans’ budget megabill. Today, let’s talk about the three most concerning aspects of this proposal and then do something about it, too.
First, we knew the “nonprofit killer bill” (formerly H.R. 9495) would be back, and here it is: Section 112209 would grant the Treasury Secretary the unchecked power to brand any nonprofit a “terrorist supporting organization” and revoke its tax-exempt status. The provision doesn’t require the disclosure of substantiating evidence, so any accused nonprofit would be hard-pressed to defend itself.
Criminal law already prohibits nonprofits from supporting terrorist groups. By allowing the executive branch to take politicized, discriminatory, defamatory, and frankly ruinous actions against nongovernmental organizations, this new, far-overreaching legislation would swing the doors wide open to unconstitutional abuse.
Afterall, we’re operating under a presidential administration that has already threatened to strip multiple nonprofits of their tax-exempt status simply for lawfully advocating against its discriminatory policies. But no matter who’s at its helm, the federal government must never be handed a weapon to stifle dissent, censor independent media, and attack political opponents — which we must assume would include groups, like American Atheists, that exist to defend the civil rights of marginalized Americans against harmful Christian Nationalist policies.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Also included in the budget reconciliation package is the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA). If passed, ECCA would impose private school voucher schemes on all 50 states and Washington, D.C. By 2035, the proposal will drain $136 billion from state and federal coffers, funneling it into predominantly religious entities that discriminate, indoctrinate, and answer to no one.
To learn more about the federal voucher proposal, check out this recent Newsweek piece, in which American Atheists’ own Melina Cohen rebutted Rep. Elise Stefanik’s glossy portrayal of what would be a massive and unprecedented transfer of public dollars to private, mostly religious schools.
Last but not least, the budget bill contains provisions that threaten Americans’ access to lifesaving health care by slashing $880 billion in Medicaid funding over the next decade. It specifically targets Medicaid funding for “essential community providers that are primarily engaged in family planning services or reproductive services.” For millions of Americans, that means Planned Parenthood, and the services they provide are, indeed, essential.
64% of Planned Parenthood’s health centers are in rural or otherwise underserved areas and, too often, they are either the only option available or the only alternative to a religious health provider that may deny services to patients. And because federal law already prevents Medicaid from funding most abortions, the proposed cuts would drastically reduce the other services community health centers provide, including cancer screenings and contraception, as well as STI testing and treatment.
While supporters tout the plan as a “savings” and an elimination of “fraud, waste, and abuse,” early estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest the proposal would cost taxpayers $300 million and strip 8.6 million Americans of their insurance coverage.
That would leave some of our country’s most vulnerable citizens — seniors, people with disabilities, people who are pregnant, low-income families, and half of all children in the United States — without the coverage necessary for treatment, preventative care, mental health services, and pediatric care, including routine vaccinations against infectious disease. This is not how we “Make America Healthy Again.”
TAKE ACTION NOW
This megabill would have catastrophic consequences on public health, public education, and society as we know it. But they aren’t just bad policies, they’re bad politics. By tying them together in “one, big, beautiful bill,” politicians hope to avoid the full and fair debate each of these massive proposals deserves. Because all of them — curbing free speech, publicly funding private schools, and slashing government aid — are incredibly unpopular with American voters, regardless of their political party.
School vouchers, like those proposed in ECCA, have been rejected every time and in every state they’ve been on the ballot. There isn’t a single congressional district in the country where more than 15% of voters support cutting Medicaid. And by simultaneously suppressing the speech of nongovernmental organizations, they’re hoping to limit our ability to fight back once and for all.
In solidarity,
Nick Fish
President
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