The House-passed version of the tax reform bill included repeal of the Johnson amendment, which prohibits nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations from endorsing specific candidates.

Named after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson (TX-D), the amendment was adopted as part of 1954 tax reform legislation. It added a clause to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) definition of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations that excludes any public charity, private foundation, or religious congregation “which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

Advocates of Johnson amendment repeal, especially religious leaders, view it as restricting free speech and believe they should be able to endorse or oppose candidates in the context of their faith.

Supporters of the amendment want to retain the nonpartisan nature of charity and argue that allowing such organizatoins to become politically activity will erode public support for them. They also believe that tax deductible gifts should not be used indirectly for political campaigns.

At a national prayer breakfast on May 4, President Trump announced an Executive order titled, “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,” making good on his campaign promise to allow religious organizations greater freedom in political speech. The order asked the IRS to use “maximum enforcement discretion” in implementing the Johnson amendment.

At the time, groups that would normally oppose such a directive said the order was too vague to have much impact on the status quo and therefore did not take legal action.

A Ways and Means Committee summary of the amendment in the tax reform bill reads:

“This amendment ensures that all 501c3 organizations will not fail to be treated as organized and operated exclusively for their respective nonprofit purposes because of engagement in certain political speech, as long as the speech is in the ordinary course of the organization’s business and the organization’s expenses related Churches and Politics to such speech are de minimis [lacking significance].”

Although repeal of the Johnson Amendment did not make it into the final Republican tax overhaul bill signed by President Trump, some conservative groups and their supporters have vowed to continue the fight, most likely through the appropriations process.