Republican Susan Collins joined Democrats in voting to approve a Senate resolution that would effectively repeal a new Treasury Department rule that decreases the amount of donor information political nonprofits have to actively disclose.
The vote was 50-49. Sen. Thom Tillis R-N.C., did not participate in the Wednesday vote.
The Senate vote deals the Trump administration a political loss in Congress, though only a symbolic one. The House of Representatives would also have to approve the resolution, and President Trump sign it, for the Treasury rule to be struck down. Both of those actions remain unlikely.
Democrats, led by Jon Tester of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon, brought the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows for an up-or-down vote to be scheduled to end a rule made by a federal agency if only 30 senators support a vote on that rule, allowing Democrats to expedite consideration of the resolution despite being in the minority in the Senate.
Under Treasury’s rule, political organizations like Americans for Prosperity and Planned Parenthood’s political wing would still have to collect and hold donor information in the event of an audit, but no longer would have to submit information on donors who give them more $5,000 in their annual filings. Koch Industries in particular pushed for the rule change.
“I supported the resolution because I believe it’s helpful to the IRS in enforcing the law to have that information, because there’s a limit on how much political activity can be done by 501(c)(4)s,” Collins told the Washington Examiner immediately after the vote.
Wyden and Tester will push for a vote in the House, but have no control over whether it will happen.
“This is a huge first step in America’s fight against anonymous political insiders looking to tighten their grip on Washington,” Wyden said in a statement after the vote. “I urge Paul Ryan to act swiftly on this issue of great importance and lead the House in reversing course on the Trump administration’s reckless decision.”
A Republican aide familiar with House Republican leadership’s thinking on the resolution said Ryan did not plan to bring it to a vote before the end of this Congress, likely letting it lapse. Congress can only consider resolutions to end department rules under the Congressional Review Act within a certain time period of the rule’s proposal.
Treasury argued the Internal Revenue Service no longer needed to collect personal information on donors to 501(c)(4) organizations, which also include the National Rifle Association and AARP, as well as trade associations that lobby on behalf of industries.
