After Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) agreed to drop the “equal treatment” portion of the Charity Aid Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act aimed at making it easier for religious organizations to get government grants, the path was cleared for the remainder of the bill (S. 476) to proceed to the Senate floor. S. 476 deals primarily with tax incentives for charitable giving and nonprofit accountability issues and was approved by the Finance Committee in February. However, controversy over the faith-based version sponsored by Santorum and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) was holding up the bill.

On April 2, 2003, the House Subcommittee on Education Reform adopted a substitute for H.R. 1350, the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003. Chairman Michael Castle (R-DE), the bill's sponsor, dropped provisions that would have severely limited the ability of nonprofit parent centers that receive grants under the bill to communicate with the federal government.

Text of letter to Senate leaders from OMB Watch supporting passage of the CARE Act with Title VIII, which deals with government funding of religious groups, dropped from the bill. April 1, 2003 The Honorable Bill Frist Majority Leader The Honorable Thomas A. Daschle Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Frist and Senator Daschle,

The House of Representatives is continuing to move forward with its faith-based agenda despite the fact that the CARE Act is stalled in the Senate amid controversy over issues relating to hiring discrimination, protection of beneficiaries, preemption of state and local laws and the role of intermediary organizations. (See March 4, 2003 Watcher for background.) Draft amendments are still circulating, but the Administration has made it clear it will veto the bill if it passes with a prohibition on religious discrimination for hiring in program positions paid for with federal funds.