Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 3, 2026

Treasury and the IRS Propose Stripping Tax-Exempt Status From Any Private School That Considers Race — as Many as 18,000 Institutions, From Elementary Schools to Universities — and the Top Ways and Means Democrat Calls It "Racist Weaponization of the IRS"

On September 3, 2026, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Racial Nondiscrimination in Private Schools." Under the proposal, a private school that "adopts, maintains, or enforces a policy or practice that discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin" would not be treated as operated exclusively for exempt purposes and would lose its federal tax exemption under section 501(c)(3). The rule reaches admissions, educational policies, scholarships and loans, athletics, and every other school-administered program, and Treasury estimates it may affect as many as 18,000 private educational institutions — elementary schools, trade schools, professional schools, colleges and universities. The rule rescinds prior IRS guidance the administration says permitted racial preferences, and permits race-neutral substitutes such as income-based or geographic criteria. Religious schools may still impose religious affiliation requirements. The proposal was scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on September 4, with comments due sixty days later, and would apply to taxable years beginning on or after May 31, 2027. Because 501(c)(3) status also governs the deductibility of donations, the rule puts at risk the charitable deduction for gifts to affected schools — a point tax practitioners flagged immediately. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the rule as civil rights enforcement. IRS chief Frank Bisignano said institutions that "promote discriminatory practices" would no longer receive the benefits of exemption. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, called it a racist weaponization of the tax code, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund promised litigation.

“Schools rebranding race-based preferences as equitable, inclusive, or diversity-enhancing does not change their discriminatory nature.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Sep 3, 2026

The House Votes 237-169 to Strip Federal Student Aid From Colleges That Boycott Israel — a Bill Written by a Democrat, Opposed by His Own Leadership, and Passed With 33 Democrats and All but Two Republicans

On September 3, 2026, the House passed H.R. 4795, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026, by a vote of 237-169. The bill bars colleges and universities that engage in what it defines as a "non-expressive commercial boycott" of Israel from participating in federal student aid programs — including Pell grants and federal student loans. The bill was written by an unusual pair: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the former chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the House. It had cleared the Education and Workforce Committee 24-9 after a June 25 hearing. The floor vote split both parties, but far more unevenly on one side than the other. Republicans voted 203-2 in favor, with only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) opposed. Democrats voted 167-33 against — meaning 33 Democrats broke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and the rest of the leadership team, all of whom voted no. Supporters framed the bill as an answer to campus antisemitism. Opponents, led by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) — who has spent decades opposing the BDS movement itself — argued it punishes constitutionally protected speech, and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member on Education and Workforce, argued on the floor that no American university administration has actually adopted the policies the bill describes. The vote landed the same week House Democratic leaders were weighing discipline against two members who crossed the aisle on a procedural rule, and ten weeks before the midterms — sharpening an intra-Democratic fight over Israel that has been building all year.

“The antisemitic rot that has corroded college campuses must be eradicated — enough is enough.”
Virginia Foxx (R-NC) · Sep 3, 2026

A Career Civil Rights Lawyer Says the Administration's Campus Antisemitism Investigations Were "Predetermined, Without Regard to the Evidence" — and Jamie Raskin Opens an Investigation Calling Them a "Pre-Baked Frame-Up"

On August 18, 2026, lawyers for Haley Van Erem — a career attorney who spent nearly a decade in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division before being detailed to the multi-agency antisemitism task force — filed a 28-page whistleblower disclosure with the inspectors general at DOJ and HHS and with the Office of Special Counsel. The disclosure alleges that the Title VI investigations of Harvard, Brown, Columbia and Cornell were marked by "extraordinary procedural irregularities, predetermined outcomes without factual or legal support," that "the outcomes of the investigations were predetermined, without regard to the evidence," and that the whole exercise was a "politically mandated effort" to extract money through settlement demands and funding freezes. It says hundreds of millions of dollars were suspended before the investigations were finished, that Columbia investigators flagged false statements and constitutionally protected activity being cited as Title VI violations, that a Harvard-assigned attorney warned the proposed settlement demands were unrelated to remedying antisemitism and likely violated the First Amendment, and that the task force also targeted Muslim professors. Van Erem left the department in May 2025, she says, because she was "unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law." Columbia agreed to pay $200 million over three years and Brown agreed to spend $50 million on Rhode Island workforce development, both without findings of wrongdoing. The same day the disclosure surfaced, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on House Judiciary, wrote to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon demanding documents and a transcribed interview before September 1. A Justice Department spokesperson said Van Erem "did not work on university investigations" and that the department "stands behind the integrity of these investigations."

“Before an actual investigation took place and regardless of what you actually found, the whole project was designed to harass professors and administrators at major universities, to curtail their freedom of speech and academic freedom, and to strip targeted institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that they had already been awarded on the merits of their applications.”
Jamie Raskin (D-MD) · Aug 18, 2026