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Home :  Nonprofit Issues :  Advocacy Blog : 
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Advocacy Blog


Sunday, January 29, 2006

Great Article on the "Money Habit" of Congress
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs held a hearing on current lobby reform proposals.

Dana Milbanks from the Washington Post provided some interesting commentary.

The senators yesterday sounded like addicts, powerless to overcome their reliance on lobbyist cash. "It's out of control," lamented Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), a recipient of $573,000 from lobbyists and lawyers over five years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. "We all hate it. And it's about time we collectively think about how we can get off the treadmill."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 12:46:42 PM



Dreier Moves To Ban Former Members From Floor, Gym
The House this week will kick off the second session of the 109th Congress by kicking lobbyists out of an inner sanctum: the members’ gym.

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)the chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he will introduce a resolution on Tuesday that would bar former members who were registered lobbyists from the House floor and House gymnasium. The full House would vote on the measure a day later.

Past members already are banned from the chamber if a bill they are lobbying is pending before the full House or any committee.

Former members who are registered lobbyists would be allowed to enter the chamber only on ceremonial occasions, such as Former Member Day.



Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:40:21 AM



Lobby Reform Resource
At his website, More Soft Money, Hard Law, Bob Bauer has created a one stop shop for all things lobby reform. Check it out!

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:23:52 AM



Scrappy Idealists Take on Congress
Although this is mostly an article about earmarks and "pork", it is an interesting article into the world of the watchdogs.

From the Washington Post: These are dark days for earmarks.

Packing bills with special provisions has long been an honored tradition in Congress, but now a pall has fallen over the practice. Bolstered by a budget crisis and a series of scandals involving legislative favors, an increasingly prolific government watchdog movement is turning "pork" into a four-letter word.

These scrappy outfits are run by small corps of veteran staffers whose offices look more like dorm rooms than the posh K Street suites occupied by their archnemeses: lobbyists. Taxpayers for Common Sense elevated an obscure Alaska highway project into the now-infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." Citizens Against Government Waste started battling runaway Hurricane Katrina spending three days after the storm hit the Gulf Coast.

This is a laudatory article, and one that points out that what the watchdogs do, which is sometimes only seen when something is interesting enough to catch the eye of the public.

A response from Bob Bauer's blog:

These are tax-exempts: they patrol Congress on the look-out for pork and sneaky, expensive earmarks. When abuses are spotted, they complain loudly, publicly, and often effectively. It seems that they are not lobbyists, but "legislative watchdogs." When this debate is over and reforms have been enacted, some will have the good fortune to be "legislative watchdogs." Others will be "lobbyists" or "527s."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:21:52 AM



Monday, January 16, 2006

IRS Revoking Tax-Exempt Status of Many Credit Counselors
From the Washington Post:

The Internal evenue Service plans to revoke the tax-exempt status of 30 nonprofit credit-counseling organizations, saying the groups are not providing adequate financial education to their clients and funnel too much money to their chief executives and to related for-profit entities. So far, five credit organizations have lost their tax-exempt status, while the reminder have been notified that their status is about to change.

However, while Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum, a Washington attorney representing about 50 credit-counseling agencies, said he was not surprised at the number of proposed revocations and predicted more to come. But, he said, it was frustrating that the IRS has not yet given any counseling group a green light or issued guidelines on what groups must do to retain their tax-exempt status. "At a time when credit counseling has been endorsed by Congress and is now mandatory prior to filing for bankruptcy, the industry is operating in the dark as to what the IRS's tax-exemption standards are. This has created great instability in the industry."

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:28:25 AM



Friday, January 13, 2006

Grasley Looking Towards More Reforms
From BNA:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said Jan. 12 he will propose new reforms for charitable and tax-exempt organizations later in 2006 beyond those in a pending tax reconciliation bill (S. 2020).

However, reform likely will not be accomplished in a single package as once envisioned, Grassley said.

Progress on charitable sector reforms, which his committee has been examining in recent years, probably will be a "piecemeal" approach of correcting perceived problems as opposed to one "gigantic" bill, Grassley told Iowa reporters via teleconference.

There are a number of changes applicable to the charitable sector in the reconciliation bill (S. 2020) to be negotiated with House members. Those provisions are relatively noncontroversial and most people in the nonprofit community have embraced them, recognizing that changes need to be made, Grassley said.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:14:14 AM



Thursday, January 12, 2006

GOP Considers Ban on Privately Funded Travel
Check out this New York Times article on the possible banning of privately funded travel. This could have impacts for nonprofits, which we discuss more extensively in our Watcher article on the new lobby reform bills before Congress.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:51:09 AM



Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Online Information on Lobbying, Ethics Reform Bills in Congress
Bob Bauer's blog (More Soft Money HardLaw) has a very useful resource page with links to the pending lobby and ethics reform bills in Congress, and related Congressional floor statements and press releases.

To access this resource page click here




Thursday, January 05, 2006

Abramoff Pleads Guilty
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff has plead guilty to a three-count information charging him with conspiracy, aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud, and tax evasion.

Find DOJ's statement here.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 12:08:32 PM



Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Red Cross To Answer Grassley Questions
From the Chronicle of Philathropy: The American Red Cross and its Board of Governors are under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee following the recent resignation of the charity's chief executive and the organization's handling of recent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina.



Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:49:30 PM




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