Cantwell to introduce bill to halt NFL's tax-exempt status over Redskins team name

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced Tuesday that she will introduce legislation to eliminate the NFL's tax-exempt status because of its refusal to force a change in the name of the Washington Redskins, which she condemned as a slur against Native Americans.

According to The Washington Post, Cantwell made her remarks at a press conference called by a coalition of Native American and social justice groups leading the campaign against the Redskins’ name.

The group, Change the Mascot, which includes the National Congress of American Indians and the Oneida Indian Nation, is calling on the owners of the 31 other NFL teams to force Washington owner Dan Snyder to change the team’s name.

“The NFL needs to join the rest of Americans in the 21st century,” Cantwell said. “It is about right and wrong.”

Cantwell is the former chairwoman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

The hugely profitable and popular NFL is considered a non-profit organization under federal tax law.