In an effort to further weaken the wall separating church and state, President Bush is seeking to expand his faith-based initiative to the state and local levels. He is pushing state and local governments to adopt rules and policies similar to federal regulations that favor faith-based groups in government-funded programs.

The absence of new legislative authority has not deterred the Bush administration from using its executive powers to widely implement its Faith-Based Initiative throughout the federal government. That is the finding of a new report by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy documents. Among the report's findings:

• President Bush has aggressively advanced his Faith-Based Initiative through executive orders, rule changes, and managerial realignment in federal agencies.

The House Ways and Means Committee rejected a provision inserted into the jobs bill by House Republican leadership on June 14. It would have allowed religious organizations to violate the ban on partisan election activity without losing their tax-exempt status and was introduced shortly after the Bush campaign was criticized for e-mailing messages to supporters seeking help with re-election campaigns by recruiting "friendly congregations." Those messages were sent the same day the President announced expansion of his faith-based initiative, including $1.1 billion in grant funds.

As part of its effort to streamline the federal grants process, the Office of Management and Budget has published updated versions of its grants circulars that make definitions of key terms consistent for all types of grantees. The new Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations will centralize all policy guidance and rules for grants and cooperative agreements.