SA 163. Mr. SANTORUM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 18, setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2006 and including the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2005 and 2007 through 2010; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of title V, insert the following:

SEC. __. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING TAX RELIEF TO ENCOURAGE CHARITABLE GIVING.

(a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--

(1) the CARE Act, which represents a part of the President's faith-based initiative, will spur charitable giving and assist faith-based and community organizations that serve the needy;

(2) more than 1,600 small and large organizations from around the Nation have endorsed the CARE Act, and in the 108th Congress the CARE Act had bipartisan support and was sponsored by 23 Senators;

(3) although the CARE Act passed the Senate on April 9, 2003, by a vote of 95 to 5, and the House of Representatives passed companion legislation on September 17, 2003, by a vote of 408 to 13, a conference committee on the CARE Act was never formed and a final version was not passed in the 108th Congress; and

(4) charities around the Nation continue to struggle, and the passage of the incentives for charitable giving contained in the CARE Act would provide significant dollars in private and public sector assistance to those in need.

(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that a relevant portion of amounts in this budget resolution providing for tax relief should be used--

(1) to provide the 86,000,000 Americans who do not itemize deductions an opportunity to deduct charitable contributions;

(2) to provide incentives for individuals to give tax free contributions from individual retirement accounts for charitable purposes;

(3) to provide incentives for an estimated $2,000,000,000 in food donations from farmers, restaurants, and corporations to help the needy, an equivalent of 878,000,000 meals for hungry Americans over 10 years;

(4) to provide at least 300,000 low-income, working Americans the opportunity to build assets through individual development accounts or IDAs, which can be used to purchase a home, expand educational opportunity, or to start a small business; and

(5) to provide incentives for corporate charitable contributions.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 05:30:22 PM

Monday, March 21, 2005