A morning Senate Banking committee meeting over a credit rating bill, the talk began with moving along S. 190, Sen. Shelby's bill to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [Sen. Hagel] said the Senate should act on Shelby’s bill (S 190) to overhaul regulation of Fannie and Freddie. That measure was approved by the panel along party lines last summer and has been stalled since. Panel members seemed more optimistic Wednesday that some kind of a compromise could be reached on that bill in time for Senate passage in September.

From BNA: The big fear had been that all the incentives in H.R. 4 might disappear and there would only be reforms left, United Way Public Policy Director Patrick Lester told BNA July 31. "We were in danger of seeing most of these charitable provisions be used to offset tax cuts for the business community, rather than coming back to charities in any way." Because the reforms raise revenue, they could have been used for other purposes, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) insisted on pumping any gains back into the charitable incentives.

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy: The Internal Revenue Service has asked nonprofit groups and others to comment on how the agency should enforce a law Congress passed last month to impose steep fines on charities, churches, and other tax-exempt groups that participate in abusive tax shelters.

Interesting article in US News: "It creates a huge conflict of interest for the members of Congress," says Alex Knott of the Center for Public Integrity. "They are going to be indentured to these lobbyists because they often rely on them for campaign fundraising." Lobbyists have served as treasurers of at least 68 campaign committees or joint campaign committees with other members since 1998, according to the center. It's unclear whether the number is increasing because reform groups have just started to track these relationships.