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GOP bill would let churches endorse political candidates
Claim free speech issue
W religion
In this 2014 file photo, Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, speaks in Independence, Ohio. Churches should have the First Amendment right to endorse political candidates and still keep their tax-free status, say House Republicans, who quietly tucked a provision into a sweeping spending bill that would deny the IRS money to enforce the 63-year-old law prohibiting such outright politicking from the pulpit. - photo by Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Churches should have the right to endorse political candidates and still keep their tax-free status, say House Republicans targeting a law that prohibits such outright politicking from the pulpit.Republicans repeatedly have failed to scrap the law preventing churches and other nonprofits from backing candidates, so now they are trying to starve it. With little fanfare, a House Appropriations subcommittee added a provision that would deny money to the IRS to enforce the 63-year-old law to a bill to fund the Treasury Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies.The subcommittee passed the bill Thursday.Republicans say the law is enforced unevenly, leaving religious leaders uncertain about what they are allowed to say and do."I believe that churches have a right of free speech and an opportunity to talk about positions and issues that are relevant to their faith," said Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio.Some Democrats say the measure comes too close to mixing church and state. They say religious leaders already have First Amendment rights, just like anyone else.
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