While the outcome of S.4, the Senate bill to implement 9/11 recommendations, continues to be murky, one important amendment was defeated today in a vote of 49-46. This package of amendments offered by Senator Cornyn (R-TX) S.AMDT.312 included a measure that would have further expanded the definition of material support. Written so broadly, it could have made it a crime for individuals, including Americans and US aid and relief organizations to give charitable assistance to a family member or anyone who might live next door to a suspected terrorist. We were clearly concerned, as it could increase the barriers nonprofits face to provide humanitarian aid. And in a related piece, read this New York Times editorial on how a flawed definition of aiding terrorism is keeping victims out of the country. The editorial is calling on Congress to fix the definition of who is a terrorist and what constitutes providing support to terrorism. What is shocking, and scandalous, is that American law currently bars the entry to the United States of some of terrorism's most abused victims: refugees who have been forced, often at gunpoint, to provide so-called material assistance.