Too often these days, when Missourians turn on the television, they see images from our cities of protestors flooding the streets, rioters damaging buildings, or masked thugs burning the American flag and waving a Palestinian one. So many Missourians I talk to wonder how these images have become commonplace in our society. The truth is, many of these individuals are being sponsored or encouraged by shadow groups who are using tax-exempt privileges to sow chaos and division throughout our country. I will absolutely not stand by and allow our tax code to be abused to push anti-American rhetoric on our home soil.

For years, as Ways and Means chairman, I have been investigating tax-exempt groups exploiting America’s tax laws on a massive scale. One of the most shameful cases we uncovered is that of an American tech mogul, Neville Roy Singham, living in Shanghai who even shares office space with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) headquarters. My investigation has traced hundreds of millions of dollars that Shanghai Singham funneled through a web of shell companies and intermediaries designed to hide where the money really came from. These groups then turned around and used that money to fund protests, organize rallies, and blast out propaganda encouraging violence. Three nonprofits in particular — BreakThrough News, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, and The People’s Forum — were particularly central to Singham’s network, parroting CCP talking points.

I demanded answers from these groups about where their money came from, yet for months they have stonewalled us, hiding behind excuses instead of turning over a single document. That’s why this week, I issued subpoenas compelling all three organizations to produce the records they’ve been refusing to share. It is my duty as your congressman to determine whether the CCP has hijacked America’s tax-exempt sector to advance its agenda inside our own country.

Americans have a constitutional right to say what they think, but when a foreign adversary is laundering money through our tax code to sow chaos and division in our communities, we cannot sit idly by. That’s not free speech. That’s exploitation by a hostile foreign government.

In addition to subpoenas, the Ways and Means Committee passed three bills to close the loopholes that made this network possible. The Foreign Funding Transparency Act requires tax-exempt organizations to publicly disclose contributions from countries of concern like China, Russia, and Iran. The Stopping Foreign Influence in Elections Act cuts off tax-exempt groups from funneling foreign money into Super PACs and political committees, in order to influence our American elections. The Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act closes the shell-game loophole that let Singham’s money hide behind layers of intermediaries before it ever showed up on paper.

I didn’t go to Washington to look the other way while our tax laws get abused by our adversaries. I led these bills through committee and issued these subpoenas because we owe it to the American people to ensure the Chinese Communist Party cannot weaponize our own tax code against us.

Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right. I’ll keep fighting to expose these networks and close these loopholes for good.