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Faith-Based Initiative - Urge Senate Finance Action on the CARE Act
The Charity Aid, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act (S. 1924), a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA), now has a total of 23 cosponsors. The Senate Finance Committee is expected on take action on the bill after the Memorial Day Recess – perhaps as early as the week of June 3. The CARE Act will provide crucial resources to the faith-based and secular charities that serve our needy brothers and sisters, through provisions that include:
- Tax-code changes to allow non-itemizers to take a tax deduction for a portion of their charitable contributions (a proposal long supported by the Conference);
- Funding for a Compassion Capital fund to provide technical assistance to small charities; and,
- Significant additional resources for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) program and the Second Chance/Maternity Group Homes to enable religious and secular charities to provide needed social services.
The USCCB and Catholic Charities USA have endorsed the CARE Act (see joint letters dated February 26 and April 12, 2002). Over 1,600 charitable and educational groups also support S. 1924. For more information on the faith-based initiative, see the February, 2002 update on our website at www.usccb.org/sdwp.
Call your Senators during the Memorial Day Recess and next week and urge them to support the CARE Act:
- Urge Senate Finance Committee members to mark-up the CARE Act as early in June as possible, to make sure the bill’s provisions on the non-itemizer charitable deduction, the Compassion Capital Fund, SSBG and Second Chance Homes are not scaled back:
Senate Finance Committee Members: Chairman Max Baucus (MT), John D. Rockefeller IV (WV), Tom Daschle (SD), John Breaux (LA), Kent Conrad (ND), Bob Graham (FL), Jeff Bingaman (NM), John F. Kerry (MA), Robert G. Torricelli (NJ), Blanche L. Lincoln (AR), James M. Jeffords (VT), Ranking Minority Member Charles E. Grassley (IA), Orrin G. Hatch (UT), Frank H. Murkowski (AK), Don Nickles (OK), Phil Gramm (TX), Trent Lott (MS), Fred Thompson (TN), Olympia J. Snowe (ME), Jon Kyl (AZ), Craig Thomas (WY)
- If your Senators are not on the Senate Finance Committee, let them know you would like the Committee to mark up the bill as soon as possible, and ask them to call Chairman Max Baucus to urge him to schedule the mark up early in June and to approve the bill with the provisions noted above intact.
- If your Senators are not cosponsors yet, urge them to sign on; if they are cosponsors, thank them.
CARE Act cosponsors: Allard (CO), Bayh (IN), Bond, (MO) Brownback (KS), Carnahan (MO), Cleland (GA), Clinton (NY), Cochran (MS), Crapo (ID), DeWine (OH), Frist (TN), Hagel (NE), Hatch (UT), Hutchinson, T (AR), Hutchison, K (TX), Johnson (SD), Lieberman (CT), Lugar (IN), Miller (GA), Nelson (FL), Santorum (PA), Sessions (AL), Torricelli (NJ), Warner (VA)
Contact your Senators through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121
For more information, contact Kathy Curran at 202-541-3188, kcurran@usccb.org.
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