Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, has said he wants the Trump administration to provide more clarity on a recent settlement by the IRS in which the agency appeared to loosen its longstanding prohibition on political activity by many tax-exempt organizations, including churches, known as the Johnson Amendment.
“I think it’s probably going to be an executive action. I think they’ve got to have a clear signal for the courts,” Lankford told Politico. According to Lankford’s office, he plans to lobby new IRS Commissioner Billy Long for more explicit clarity over the issue.
The July 7 settlement between the IRS and a Christian broadcaster states that, “the Johnson Amendment does not reach speech by a house of worship to its congregation, in connection with religious services through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith.”
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