According to Tax Analyst (via http://www.pgdc.com/usa/print_item/?itemID=310718">PDGC): The minority chief tax counsel for the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House said Congressional backing for sweeping changes in regulating governance of charities had shrunk in the wake of efforts by the nonprofit sector to acknowledge charitable abuse, to show it was not widespread, and to offer solutions.

The Senate approved a slightly amended budget reconciliation spending bill this evening by a vote of 52 - 47. The Senate considered 20 amendments throughout the day and adopted three of them before the vote on final passage. The bill would cut $39.1 billion from entitlement spending.

Today the House Budget Committee passed a $53.9 billion reconciliation bill to cut spending. The Committee approved the bill 21-16, and it will most likely go to the floor next week. The House approved a bill even though it contains a provision - long favored by conservatives - to split in half the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco, CA.

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral argument in Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a lawsuit brought by three New York nonprofit organizations that provide free legal representation to low-income people. Burt Neuborne of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, appearing for the legal services organizations, urged the court to uphold a lower court ruling that had declared that the government imposed unconstitutional restrictions on the ability of the organizations to use their own non-federal funds.