The American people do not expect that their charitable contributions will be used for partisan political ends. The tax bill amendment offered by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), and passed on a party-line vote, expands the bill’s previous rollback of the Johnson Amendment – buried more than 400 pages into the legislation – to now allow all charities to enter partisan politics, including well-funded front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). This takes the bill beyond just a massive giveaway to the nation’s billionaire class to now allow wealthy special interests to manipulate the charitable sector for partisan political ends, all with a subsidy from American taxpayers.

This massive loophole will be sorely abused to the detriment of our democracy. More secret money will flow to these charities and endorsements and support will be purchased behind closed doors. The amendment must be removed or the partisan politicization of some charities will do serious damage to the reputation of all charities.