Protecting Nonprofit 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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

OMB Watch and NCNA Comments on Grant Application Information Standards

June 9, 2003 Sandra Swab, Office of Federal Financial Management Office of Management and Budget Room 6025 New Executive Office Building Washington, D.C. 20503 Via E Mail to sswab@omb.eop.gov Re: Standard Data Elements Comments, Volume 8 Fed. Reg. No. 67, Pages 17090-17097 Dear Ms.

read in full

Administration Threatens Head Start Programs on Advocacy Effort

The Bush administration has taken the highly unusual step of sending a letter to Head Start programs warning that advocacy on issues relating to the controversial reauthorization of the program may be a violation of federal law.

read in full

Study on Effectiveness of Faith-Based Services Shows Little Difference

Ever since President Bush announced his faith-based initiative in January 2001, the administration has claimed faith-based programs are more effective than secular programs, but most of the evidence has been anecdotal. That has now changed, with publication of a study by Indiana University and Purdue University comparing results of faith-based and secular job training programs.

read in full

Sen. Kennedy Condemns Restrictions on Legal Services

Every year the federal appropriations for legal services carries a rider imposing a host of restrictions on legal services grantees, including an extension of these restrictions to funds from other sources. On May 19, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) made a statement in the Congressional Record condemning the restrictions, noting that the “results have been devastating.” (See 149 Cong. Rec. S6598-03).

read in full

Hill Briefing Highlights Problems With Church Electioneering Bill

On May 9th a panel of religious leaders, a former IRS Commissioner and a campaign finance expert presented a series of problems raised by the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act (H.R. 235). The bill, which now has 124 co-sponsors, would allow houses of worship to take sides in elections during any service, meeting, or other gathering.

read in full

Stay of Campaign Finance Decision Granted

A host of entities involved in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of last year’s Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) have been granted a stay of a special federal three-judge panel’s ruling that declared some parts of the Bipartisan BCRA unconstitutional, while upholding others. The same panel granted the stay of its ruling on May 19th.

read in full

Charitable Giving Bill Filed in House

See our summary of the House Charitable Giving Act and its comparison to the CARE Act. On May 8th Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) filed the "Charitable Giving Act of 2003" H.R. 7, which is similar to the CARE Act passed by the Senate last month. It has been assigned the same number (H.R. 7) as the controversial faith-based legislation passed by the House in 2001.

read in full

Summary of House Charitable Giving Bill and Comparison with CARE Act

The Charitable Giving Act was introduced in the House of Representatives on May 8th by Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN). It has been assigned the same number (H.R. 7) as the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Act passed by the House in 2001, but does not contain any charitable choice provisions. The new bill is similar to the Charity Aid Recovery and Empowerment Act (CARE) passed by the Senate last month, but also has some major differences. Here is a summary of the born-again H.R. 7 and a comparison with the CARE Act: Provision

read in full

IRS Discontinues Audits of Charities That Lobby

In a joint statement, seven nonprofit groups, including Alliance for Justice, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, Council on Foundations, INDEPENDENT SECTOR, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, National Council of Nonprofit Associations and OMB Watch, praise the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) decision to halt an audit program of charities that lobby pending a review of the program.

read in full

The CARE Act - What Next?

Before the Memorial Day recess, the House of Representatives is expected to give priority to legislation aimed at increasing charitable giving, but the Ways and Means Committee will probably not consider the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act passed by the Senate last month. House Majority Whip Ray Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) are expected to introduce a bill limited to giving incentives previously considered by the House.

read in full