As prepared for delivery.

“I rise today in support of H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. This legislation ends the flow of tax subsidies to any U.S nonprofit that has clearly violated its tax-exempt status by providing material support to terrorist organizations. At the same time, this bill ends the unfair treatment of Americans who are held hostage by terrorist organizations or wrongfully detained by foreign governments by ensuring that when they return home, they are not dealing with penalties from the IRS for past-due taxes owed from the time they were in captivity. 

“To be clear, we were here just last week to consider this same piece of legislation. This piece of legislation received unanimous approval by the Ways and Means Committee and contains provisions that already passed this House with overwhelming bipartisan support and received unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate. And yet, despite that consistent showing of bipartisan support, the majority of our Democrat colleagues voted last week to block passage of this bill.

“Why? Because President Trump won the election. Don’t take my word for it. Our Democrat colleagues said it themselves on this Floor. 

“Nevertheless, we are back here today to consider this bill under a rule so that we can advance this commonsense policy despite the partisan antics we witnessed last week.

“Those who opposed this legislation last week invented all sorts of excuses. We heard a number of fearmongering scenarios under which they now believe the authorities in this bill might be abused. 

“But every concern raised by Democrats has been addressed in this bill to ensure due process and to protect legitimate non-profits.

“Moreover, instead of engaging in the myths we hear from the other side, we have real world examples that show why this bill is desperately needed to end the tax-exempt status of organizations that have provided material support to terrorists. 

“As I noted last week, we have evidence of a U.S.-based tax-exempt entity that helped fund the hiring of a so-called journalist whose real day job was working for Hamas and holding Israeli hostages in his home. There is also the U.S.-based tax-exempt organization that financially sponsors a foreign entity that the Biden Treasury Department has designated a sham charity because of its support for terrorism. 

“And yet, both of those U.S.-based nonprofits still enjoy tax-exempt status. In fact, this week I once again called on the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the organization supporting that fake charity because the Biden Administration has yet to do so. 

“In no circumstances should the U.S. taxpayer be asked to subsidize this activity by allowing such organizations to retain their tax-exempt preferential status.

“Unlike the made-up stories our colleagues told last week and that they will no doubt continue to tell this week, this is the reality, and there’s no excuse for it. 

“Congress must act to stop this abuse of our tax code that is funding terrorism around the world. We must act to end the unfair tax treatment of Americans who have already suffered enough – and whose families have suffered enough – from being held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.

“This is the right thing to do, and I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.”