Zoe Lofgren: “Just to note, Congress never intended for 501(c), for social welfare organizations to just be conduits for dark campaign…”

“Just to note, Congress never intended for 501(c), for social welfare organizations to just be conduits for dark campaign spending. In exchange for nonprofit status and tax exempt status, the law requires them to engage exclusively in the promotion of social welfare. Now, how is that defined? The IRS was trying to get a bright line on that, but they were stopped by a secret rider put in an appropriations bill. Obviously, the appropriation at large got votes from both sides of the aisle because you need to keep the government down. But that is not the way you legislate. That is a sneaky way to change the law. To repeal this provision of H.R. 1 would be a huge mistake, because what we are doing is setting things right so that people know what they can do and what they can't do. Yes, you can speak, but don't expect to get a tax break because you are speaking about politics. You get a tax break because you are doing charitable work. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.”