The Senate Finance Committee passed the Chair's amended version of the CARE Act (S 1924, the Leiberman-Santorum compromise on the President's faith-based initiative) on June 18th by a voice vote. The main portions of the bill create new incentives for charitable giving and specify equal treatment of faith-based and secular nonprofits when applying for federal grants. It also simplifies the rules on lobbying by 501(c)(3) groups that use the expenditure test in the IRS rules, by doing away with the distinction between direct and grassroots lobbying.

The Senate Finance Committee will mark up charitable giving legislation based on the Santorum-Lieberman CARE Act (S 1924) tomorrow morning (June 13th). The legislation is being offered as a substitute to HR 7, a House giving bill that included controversial "charitable choice" provisions dealing with faith-based social services. The timing of this charitable giving legislation is extremely poor, as the Senate is right now debating legislation to permanently repeal the estate tax, a tax that provides a valuable incentive for charitable

The General Accounting Office has issued a report requested by the Senate Finance Committee that reviews oversight of charities and makes recommendations for improvement. Tax-Exempt Organizations: Improvements Possible in Public, IRS and State Oversight of Charities is available at Report GAO-02-526.

The IRS has extended the deadline for PACs to file their registration and disclosure reports to July 15.