FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan
Ashley.Sullivan@weact.org
WASHINGTON – WE ACT for Environmental Justice is deeply concerned by the House Ways and Means Committee’s recent efforts to undermine the essential work of organizations advancing issues as fundamentally American as public health, environmental health, and racial equity. Allowing a political appointee to use their own determinations to strip a U.S. nonprofit of its tax-exempt status enables discriminatory enforcement and invites abuse of power.
The authority to investigate organizations for wrongdoing already exists under current law. Instead, this effort aims to bypass due process, intimidate Americans from exercising their Constitutional right to free speech, and undo the democratic rights of every individual and organization in the country.
We are not alone in our concerns. Last year, more than 300 nonprofit organizations – including our own – from across ideological lines shared a letter expressing our alarm about previous legislation language and its potential for the violation of civil rights and liberties. We are disappointed to see this language revived through the reconciliation process to once again target nonprofit organizations. No administration, regardless of political affiliation, should hold the power to remove the democratic rights of its citizens or target organizations without due process.
Our country works best when the needs and values of all people across the country are prioritized by the organizations most connected to their communities. At a time when the work of those in the public health and environmental space are needed most, we must not cede our commitment to these issues and our right to advance them.
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WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan membership-based organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram.