Rights of Government Grantees

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

Court Says AmeriCorps Teachers in Catholic Schools Allowed to Receive Subsidies

On March 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that taxpayer funds can subsidize volunteer instructors that teach in religious schools. The ruling reversed a July 2, 2004 decision by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who admonished the government for failing to monitor programs sufficiently to ensure compliance with the law and called the line between secular and religious activities "completely blurred." The American Jewish Congress (AJC) may appeal the decision.

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Florida Spends More on Faith-Based Initiative

Mar 21, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Florida is making a leap in faith-based initiatives, carving out more state and federal money for religious groups, even as the state awaits word from the Florida Supreme Court on whether one of its largest programs breaches the constitutional prohibition against government funding of religion. Check out the article.

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New GAO Report Tells HHS/ACF to Fix Accountability Measures

Mar 21, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A February review of the Head Start program, one of the largest federal early childhood programs, showed that the program is prone to wastefulness and inferior service due to the lack of federal oversight. The Government Accountability Office ("GAO"), who conducted the review, recommended that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) develop a comprehensive risk assessment of the Head Start program and improve the processes it currently uses to collect information on program risks. GAO report on HHS Grantee Accountability The Head Start Bureau National Head Start Association

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Marc Stern, Asst. Exec of AJC, on Americorps Ruling

Mar 17, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Marc Stern, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress, was interviewed by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy regarding the Amercorps Ruling. Check out the interview here. Also, look for a Watcher article next week summarizing the Americorps ruling.

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Congress Votes to Extend TANF for 3 Months

Mar 16, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Congress has once again taken up legislation to reauthorize the nation's primary welfare program, but the House and Senate are not expected to act on a final bill until April at the earliest. To keep the program operating in the meantime, Capitol Hill lawmakers are extending expiration of the current law from the end of March to the end of June.

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What do you know? Here, too...

Mar 16, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Another article about Bush dropping the non-itemizer.

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AmeriCorps Ruling Allows Funding of Volunteers in Religious

Mar 15, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A federal appeals court has ruled that the government may continue to subsidize an AmeriCorps program that places volunteer teachers in religious schools, a decision with potentially significant consequences for President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was a setback for the American Jewish Congress, the New York-based nonprofit advocacy group that filed the lawsuit.

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Santorum's Own Faith-Based Initiative

Mar 15, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Hill has an article on Sen. Santorum's personal classes on Catholicism in his private Senate hideaway. It is not open to all Congressional Members - It is invite only. (Catholic Republicans that oppose abortion, it seems).

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Jim Wallis Calls Budget "Un-Christian"

Mar 10, 2005 by Kay Guinane

Interesting op-ed from Jim Wallis about how our budget is decidely "un-Christian". The budget slashes funds to deperately needed social programs - and expects that faith-based organizations, given a pittance of money through faith-based grants, is going to make up for it. How is that possible when even faith-based grants are getting cut?

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Faith-Based Roundup

House Vote on Jobs Act Would Codify Religious Discrimination, Opponents Await Senate Vote On March 3, the House approved H.R. 27, the Job Training Improvement Act, which would allow publicly funded religious agencies to hire and fire workers based on their religious beliefs. A coalition of organizations had urged the House to reject the bill unless it was amended to ensure that workers could not be discriminated against on religious grounds in federally supported social service programs.

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