Nonprofit Speech Rights

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

Analysis of 527 bill

Jan 25, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The More Hard Money Soft Law website has a quick analysis of the draft 527 bill that has begun circulating. For more information about 527 groups, read our latest Watcher article about the regulation of 527s.

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Bill to Allow Campaigning by Religious Organizations Back in House

On Jan. 4, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced H.R. 235, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act of 2005. The bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow religious congregations to support or oppose candidates for public office and conduct partisan campaign activities without losing their tax-exempt status, as long as the activity takes place in the context of a religious service or gathering.

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Court Rules on Key Issues on Funding Faith-Based Groups

A Jan. 11 ruling by a federal district court judge in Wisconsin in a complex case challenging the federal faith-based initiative has blocked funding to a program that incorporated religious content into government funded activities, but dismissed a claim that another program discriminated against secular nonprofits in awarding subgrants. Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Towey may be appealed by both sides.

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Congress Faces First Faith-Based Issues of 2005

A Quarter of HUDÕs Budget Slashed in BushÕs Budget The Bush administration, in a drastic reversal of election promises, plans to cut $8 billion in funding at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in programs often administered by faith-based organizations, resulting in a reduction of the agencyÕs $31 billion budget by almost a quarter.

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Post Election Analysis of 527s Dispels Myths, Shows Trends

The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) held a briefing on Jan. 14 that provided a glimpse of findings in its soon to be published book The Election after Reform. In a special presentation on independent political committees (often referred to as 527s) CFI analyst Steve Weissman said these groups did not become substitutes for party soft money that could no longer be given to political parties under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The findings provided more detail on 527 groups based on data and interviews conducted after the election and compared with data from 2002.

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Keeping Track of Faith-Based Money

Jan 24, 2005 by Guest Blogger

An interesting article on the religion and social policy website regarding where faith-based money is going.

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ACLU and CFC

Jan 21, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A recent article by Rick Cohen of NCRP discusses the history of the CFC and the recent moves by OPM to require charities to check watch lists. Also check out the ACLU's page on the CFC requirement and the legal battle to change it.

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"War on Terror" Impacts Tsunami Aid

Jan 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Aid going to the tsunami relief efforts in South-east Asia is under close scruntiny by the US government, especially in the case of the Tamil Tigers - a seperatist movement in Sri Lanka. The Tigers were designated by the US government as a terrorist organization in 2001, hampering foreign aid to the area. US government officals have been reluctant to discuss whether nonprofits giving assistance to the region that the Tamil Tigers occupy in Sri Lanka would constitute as aiding and abetting terrorism. The article below contains the offical Treasury Department stance. Check it out.

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Florida Recieves $67 Million in Faith-Based Money

Jan 14, 2005 by Guest Blogger

There was an article a couple weeks ago in a Florida paper that detailed the amount of faith-based money Florida is to receieve, as well as where it is going. The real story here is that there is no new money going to Florida. There is an increasing number of faith-based and secular nonprofits all vying for the same small pot of money. Check out the article.

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EPA Asked to Delay Survey Pending Larger Grant Streamlining Effort

OMB Watch has filed comments with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking that they not move forward with a proposed pre-qualification process for grant applicants until they coordinate the effort with other agencies.

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