President Donald Trump praised the IRS decision permitting churches to endorse political candidates, saying it allows them to “speak up.”
“I love the fact that churches could endorse a political candidate,” Trump said on Wednesday at the White House. “If somebody of faith wants to endorse, I think it’s something that I’d like to hear.”
The IRS said earlier this week that religious places of worship could endorse political hopefuls, undoing a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups.
The agency lifted the ban in a court filing to settle a lawsuit from two churches in Texas and an association of Christian broadcasters.
The IRS and the plaintiffs asked a federal judge to order the Trump administration and future presidential administrations not to enforce the ban on political endorsements against the groups that sued, according to the New York Times, which reported the filing.
In court filings, the agency said it would not view political endorsements as campaigning but more so a private affair.
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Trump, who scores well with evangelical voters, unsuccessfully tried to end the ban during his first term, and was thrilled with the news that it is now gone.
“Those people were not allowed to speak up. Now they’re allowed to speak up,” he said. “I think it’s terrific.”