This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O'Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art scene. Sign up here to get it every Wednesday afternoon.
A newly elected president and new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate are two months from taking office. But arts advocates in Pittsburgh and elsewhere are already sounding the alarm about legislation recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which cleared the House last week, would empower the Secretary of the Treasury to unilaterally designate nonprofit groups as “terrorist supporting organizations” and strip them of their tax-exempt status. Most U.S. arts groups are, of course, nonprofits.
The bill had been working its way through Congress — and raising concerns — since before the election. On Sept. 20, a group of about 150 civil- and human-rights groups ranging from the ACLU and NAACP to the American Library Association and Oxfam America signed a letter to House Majority Leader Mike Johnson (R–LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D–NY) decrying the bill as a violation of due process.
Existing laws already make it a federal crime for nonprofits to provide “material support” to terrorist organizations. The groups said the proposed law would have “immense” potential for abuse.
“The executive branch could use this authority to target its political opponents and use the fear of crippling legal fees, the stigma of the designation, and donors fleeing controversy to stifle dissent and chill speech and advocacy,” the letter read.
The latest version of the bill, HR 9495, passed the House by a vote of 219-184. (A Nov. 12 vote had failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed for passage, but under House Speaker Johnson, the follow-up required a simple majority.) The vote tracked party lines, with 15 Democrats voting “yea.” (The two Democratic members of southwestern Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation opposed the bill, while all three Republicans supported it.)
To become law, HR 9495 requires Senate approval, which many observers believe is likely after Jan. 20, when a new Republican majority is seated along with President-elect Donald Trump.
Some in Pittsburgh’s arts community expressed concern.
“The passage of H.R. 9495 in the House marks a dangerous milestone for nonprofits across the United States,” Patrick Fisher, executive director of the advocacy group the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, wrote on LinkedIn. “This unjust legislation threatens the very foundation of the nonprofit sector — putting countless organizations, their missions, and the communities they serve at risk.”
"Artists and arts organizations are the backbone of our region’s rich and vaunted culture,” wrote Jake Goodman, executive director of the Opportunity Fund, in an email. “They will not be intimidated by this bill, serious as it is, and neither will we, their committed funders."
In an emailed statement, The Heinz Endowments said it is “closely monitoring” the bill’s progression and added, “Amid current uncertainty surrounding the bill, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our grantees.”
While the bill’s earliest version, introduced in November 2023, was intended to address the fear that U.S. nonprofits were funding groups like Hamas, the act’s potential uses by a Trump administration are unknown. (The “Tax Penalties on American Hostages” portion of the bill would shield hostages held abroad from federal taxes and penalties.)
Under the act, of course, not just arts groups but any nonprofits might be targeted.
“Foundation leaders warned that the bill is an attempt to dampen the work of progressive philanthropy in areas seemingly far removed from global terrorism,” including, perhaps especially, social-justice groups, wrote Alex Daniels in “The Chronicle of Philanthropy.”
And if the standard of providing “material support” to terrorist groups might not seem readily applicable to domestic social-justice initiatives, let alone art exhibits or theater productions, critics of HR 9495 are little comforted.
“I am certain that the act will be broadly defined and generously applied to target countless organizations dedicated to upholding human rights, equity, and freedom of expression both globally and domestically, and, yes, that most certainly includes the arts,” wrote Joseph Hall, co-executive director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater, in an email.
The Kelly Strayhorn’s mission is to empower BIPOC artists and artists of color and their audiences. Hall wrote he sees the bill in the context of developments such as the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in higher education and this year’s decision by Atlanta-based venture-capital fund The Fearless Fund to end a grant program for Black women entrepreneurs after a lengthy court battle over racial discrimination.
The “Stop Terror-Financing” act would similarly “have profound impacts specifically on BIPOC communities and the organizations integral to keeping our communities strong,” Hall wrote. “The tipping point is yet to come.”
