The Maine Association of Nonprofits is criticizing Congressman Jarred Golden for voting for a bill to end the tax-exempt status of nonprofits deemed to support terrorism.
The Bangor Daily News reports an original version of the bill had bipartisan backing in the House, but only 15 Democrats, including Golden, voted for the measure after the election of President-elect Donald Trump.
Fellow Maine Democrat Chelli Pingree voted against the bill, citing Trump’s statements of using the government against his perceived ‘enemy within’.
Golden calls the opposition ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ saying the legislation cannot be weaponized.
The bill, which has yet to reach the Senate, would give the Treasury Department unilateral authority to strip the tax-exempt status of nonprofits it claims support terrorism.
It passed the on a 219-184 last month before Thanksgiving, with the majority of the support coming from Republicans who accused Democrats of reversing course in their support for the “common sense” proposal only after Donald Trump was elected to a second term earlier in the month.
The measure is alarming to civil liberties groups who are concerned about how a second Trump presidency could invoke it to punish political opponents.
The Daily News reports the Maine Association of Nonprofits had pushed Golden to vote against the bill that has become part of a broader debate over whether and how Trump will go after his political opponents once he takes office in January.
Golden is a moderate democrat who won a fourth term representing the rural 2nd District of Maine, which has backed Trump in each election