Religious Electioneering Bill Loses Sponsors - April 29, 2002 Vol. 3 No. 9

April 29, 2002 Vol. 3 No. 9:

Published: 04/29/2002

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Religious Electioneering Bill Loses Sponsors

As reported previously in the Watcher, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has introduced a bill (H.R. 2357) that would allow religious congregations to support or oppose candidates for office without losing their tax exemption or ability to receive deductible contributions, as long as election related efforts do not amount to a substantial portion of their overall activities. Currently, 501(c)(3) charities are banned from participating in partisan electioneering. This would act as a huge loophole to recent campaign finance reforms as well as allow for tax-deductible political contributions.

Although the bill currently has over 110 co-sponsors, two co-sponsors of the legislation, Reps. Steve Largent (R-OK) and Joe Scarborough (R-FL) have recently resigned from the bill. A third, Rep. James Traficant (D-OH) has recently been convicted of several felony bribery charges and cannot vote on any legislation due to House rules. The bill has been referred to the Ways and Means Committee and may be addressed before the end of this session. This bill comes as the IRS exempt organization compliance division has picked partisan political contributions by charities as one of its main areas of focus for education and enforcement efforts this year.