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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Obama Announces Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Feb 6, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

President Obama signed an executive order to create the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Obama named Joshua DuBois, a minister who did religious outreach during the campaign, to head the office. He also named 25 diverse religious and secular leaders to a new advisory board.

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Obama Withdraws Family Planning Policy, Restores Some Nonprofit Speech Rights

On Jan. 23, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum withdrawing the Mexico City Policy. The Mexico City Policy prohibited organizations funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from using private, non-USAID funds to engage in activities including "providing advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available." Foreign nonprofits, referred to as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), were already barred from using U.S. funds to pay for abortions as a method of family planning. However, the Mexico City Policy went further and ultimately restricted the free speech rights of government grantees.

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White House Touts Achievements of Faith-Based Office

Jan 15, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

On Jan. 12, the White House released a report asserting that its office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has been a success. The report titled "Innovations in Compassion The Faith-Based and Community Initiative: A Final Report to the Armies of Compassion," detailing the expanding federal partnerships with faith-based and other community organizations. Overall, the report maintains that because of the program and the increase in funding to faith-based nonprofits, thousands of lives have been improved.

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Calls for Grants Streamlining

Dec 12, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The National Grants Partnership, (NGP) a coalition of government and nongovernment entities, released transition recommendations to improve the grants process. The NGP seeks to make agencies improve effectiveness of the use of grant funds and reduce burdens associated with grants administration. The document lays out three main recommendations. These include;

Expand the use and functionality of Grants.gov. This includes combining USASpending.gov into Grants.gov.
Consolidate and streamline the grants management structure.

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Newly Released Legal Memo; Religious Hiring Doesn't Prevent Taxpayer Funding

Oct 21, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion allowing the Justice Department to distribute a $1.5 million grant to World Vision, a Christian aid group that makes religious belief a condition of employment. More so, the legal opinion sheds light on the office that interprets laws across the government. "Much of the work of the office remains secret.

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Very Troubling Proposed HHS Rule Places Restrictions on Funding

Jul 22, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Last week, the New York Times reported that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has drafted regulations that would allow any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. All grant recipients would have to certify that they will not refuse to hire providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control. According to Senator Hilary Clinton (D-NY) the proposed regulation will be released next week.

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Past, Future of Faith-Based Initiative in the News

A late June conference sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) featured a speech by President Bush praising the faith-based initiative as "one of the most important initiatives of this Administration." On July 1, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced his plan to restructure the program, criticizing lack of funds for the current effort and promising to bar religious hiring discrimination for federally funded positions. The next day, Republican presidential candidate John McCain issued a statement disagreeing with Obama on the hiring issue.

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Comments Blast Proposed Affiliation Rule for HIV/AIDS Grantees

A proposed U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) rule for international HIV/AIDS grantees has generated criticism and calls for change. If implemented, the proposed rule would force such grantees to choose between adopting government policy for their entire organizations or setting up completely separate affiliated organizations. Comments from OMB Watch, the Brennan Center for Justice, and two members of Congress contrast the harshness of the proposed separation requirements with the much more flexible standards the agency has adopted for its faith-based initiative.

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HHS Proposes Restrictive Rules for HIV/AIDS Grantees

On April 17, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks public comments on special requirements for organizations that receive HIV/AIDS funding from HHS. The rule would require "legal, financial, and organizational" separation between a grantee and any affiliate organization that does not adopt mandatory language opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. This "pledge requirement" is being challenged in court by groups that say the policy might stigmatize and alienate the people in need of HIV/AIDS prevention services and violates First Amendment rights because it applies to other programs that are not federally funded. Comments on the proposed regulation are due May 19.

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President Requests Permanent Extension of Charitable Choice

Feb 1, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

In his final State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush called on Congress "to permanently extend Charitable Choice;" provisions in a number of federal laws that require states to include faith-based organizations among the service providers whenever they offer the same contracts to other private, nonprofits.

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