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Advocacy Blog
Monday, September 26, 2005
CARE To Be Re-introduced in Senate and House
Senator Santorum and Senators Lieberman have announced that they will propose a new CARE Act on Tuesday, September 27. This bill will be a freestanding piece of legislation containing key portions form the earlier CARE Act. A draft bill and a Dear Colleague letter has been circulating through Senate offices since Friday. Provisions of this new CARE Act include the non-itemizer tax deduction, the IRA rollover provision, the corporate tax deduction for certain food donations, corporate tax deduction for donated books, $150 million for the Capital Compassion Fund for capacity building, and over $1 billion additional funding for the Social Services Block Grant.
The Charity, Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act was first proposed in both the 108th and the 109th Congress. While it received significant bipartisan support, the bill became mired in partisan politics. The CARE Act was reintroduced as part of an existing bill the MORE Act (S. 6).
Earlier this month, certain provisions of the CARE Act were incorporated into the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (H.R 3768). Unfortunately, the hurricane relief bill is only a a short-term quick-fix limited in scope and duration.
This new CARE Act will be a stand-alone bill incorporating many of the old CARE Act provisions - and unlike the hurricane relief bill, the new CARE Act will address the long-term needs of the charitable sector, by improving incentives for charitable giving.
Additionally, a companion bill will be introduced shortly in the House by Reps. Blount (R-MO) and Ford (D-TN).
Posted by Jennifer Lowe
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