Watchdog unleashes database to expose 'loopholes' as $5B in foreign cash floods US nonprofits

Americans for Public Trust, a government transparency advocacy group, is releasing a new database that tracks more than $5 billion in foreign spending, bankrolling politically active nonprofits in the U.S.The tool, the first of its kind, aims to provide a searchable database that catalogs 523 groups and 12,090 records of foreign contributions to nonprofit organizations that, under current law, aren’t required to disclose the names of their donors, stemming from provisions passed under the Tax Reform Act of 1969. The database also reinforces the cautionary warnings from some lawmakers that those contributions are having an outsized influence on American discourse.At a hearing on the matter earlier this year, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., blasted the privileges that nonprofits enjoy that he believes are being abused.CRUZ PUSHES BILL TO HOLD TAX-EXEMPT SPONSORS ACCOUNTABLE AS DOJ PROBES SINGHAM NETWORK"It is clear the status quo is unacceptable.