Rumors Swirl Around CARE Act - May 13, 2002 Vol. 3 No. 10

May 13, 2002 Vol. 3 No. 10:

Published: 05/13/2002

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Rumors Swirl Around CARE Act

The faith-based initiative compromise bill introduced in the Senate by Sens. Joe Lieberman (C-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) is expected to come before the Senate Finance Committee before Memorial Day, and rumors about substitute bills and amendments continue to circulate.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) are said to be preparing a substitute that would drop or modify the nonitemizer deduction and possibly add some recommendations from the Joint Tax Committee's (JCT) 2000 report on nonprofit disclosure. It is not known which of these JCT recommendations might be added, but the focus is likely to be on fundraising practices. OMB Watch, Independent Sector, the Alliance for Justice, and other nonprofits joined together to oppose many of the JCT disclosure recommendations for lobbying as being overly burdensome and intrusive.

The substitute bill may also include a JCT recommendation that would simplify the rules governing lobbying by 501(c)(3) organizations that choose the expenditure test to measure their lobbying. This change would eliminate the distinction between direct and grassroots lobbying, but would keep the direct lobbying expenditure cap.