Republican members of Congress who attended Harvard University have voiced support of President Donald Trump and his threat to ask the IRS to revoke the college's tax-exempt status, Semafor reported.
On Monday, the Trump administration announced it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after it refused to adhere to new government policies on admissions, masking, hiring, and activism, specifically its handling of pro-Palestinian protests. On Wednesday, the Trump administration asked the IRS' lead counsel, Andrew De Mello, to investigate removing the tax-exempt status of the country's oldest educational institution, according to sources.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who serves as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Semafor, "If Harvard continues refusing to create a safe environment for their Jewish students, I fully support their tax-exempt status being revoked."
A spokesperson for Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told Semafor she agreed with the administration in removing her alma mater's tax-free benefits.
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who also attended Harvard, labeled the proposed actions against the university a "power grab."
"President Trump's attempt to revoke Harvard's tax-empty status is yet another dangerous power grab by an administration dead set on weaponizing the federal government to force Americans to bend to its will," Kaine said.
Tax-exempt status is afforded to educational, religious, and social welfare groups on the condition that they adhere to certain guidelines. Bloomberg News estimates that Harvard saves nearly $500 million a year by being tax-exempt.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the university will not back down to the administration's threats.
"The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," Garber wrote in a letter to the community. "No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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