Funding of Anti-War Protests Being Questioned

Interesting article on the funding of anti-war protests and the IRS rules for 501(c)(3)s. Check it out here!

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The Costs of Congressional Scrutiny

There is an article in the Miami Herald about how nonprofits have stopped raising money for the tsunami reconstruction and have even begun returning money - not because there isn't reconstruction to be done - but because of all the scrutiny surrounding nonprofit accountability. Check out the article.

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Annenberg Study on Legislative Issue Ads

The Annenberg Public Policy Center released a study today on Legislative Issue Advertising in the 108th Congress. Check it out.

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"Godcasting" Opens Up Debate on What is a "Congregation"

The definition of what constitutes a "member" or "congregant" may be getting bigger. Utilizing the technology of iPods and MP3 players, preachers are able to spread the gospel via audio shows downloaded from the internet onto MP3 players. Dubbed "godcasting", it has become the largest type of podcast being distributed. At issue for many nonprofits is what this means for church electioneering. Rep. Jones' current chuch electioneering bill allows houses of worship's clergy to advocate for or against candidates - to their members and congregants.

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Marc Stern, Asst. Exec of AJC, on Americorps Ruling

Marc Stern, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress, was interviewed by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy regarding the Amercorps Ruling. Check out the interview here. Also, look for a Watcher article next week summarizing the Americorps ruling.

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Feingold's PAYGO Amendment Barely Rejected By Senate

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced an amendment to the budget resolution today to fully reinstate pay-as-you-go (PAY-GO) rules. This amendment would require both changes to entitlement spending and any tax cuts to be offset in order to pass by a simple majority in the Senate.

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Congress Votes to Extend TANF for 3 Months

Congress has once again taken up legislation to reauthorize the nation's primary welfare program, but the House and Senate are not expected to act on a final bill until April at the earliest. To keep the program operating in the meantime, Capitol Hill lawmakers are extending expiration of the current law from the end of March to the end of June.

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Senate Finance Cmte Plans Hearing on Nonprof Accountability

On the heels of the release of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector's Interim Report, the Senate Finance Committee plans to hold a hearing on April 5 on the Panel's initial recommendations. An agenda and witness list for the hearing has not been released. Senate Finance Committee staff also has indicated that a bill might be introduced soon after the hearing.

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Action Needed Today on Important Senate Budget Amendments

The budget resolution debate is in full swing today on the floor of the Senate. There are a few important amendments scheduled for votes (either today or tomorrow) that we estimate are extremely close at this point. Any work you can do today and tomorrow contacting your Senators' offices to urge them to support these amendments could certainly make the difference. The American Friends Service Committee has generously provided an 800 number to contact Congress in Washington DC. The number is 800-247-2971

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Tax Cuts v. Medicaid: State-by-State Analysis

The budget resolutions currently under consideration in the House and Senate are in line with the President's priorities and propose cuts to Medicaid as well as the extension of tax cuts. The budget resolutions propose to cut funding for Medicaid by approximately $15 billion over five years, and in the same breath propose costs of $23 billion to extend dividend and capital gains tax breaks. As the Center for American Progress notes, "The Medicaid cuts would have important implications for states’ budgets and for health care for the poor. At the same time, the budgets under consideration contains tens of billions of dollars in new tax cuts, which would overwhelmingly benefit those best able to make the sacrifices necessary to reduce the deficit." The Center has compiled state-by-state data which shows how the proposed Medicaid cuts would affect individual states. To contrast these cuts, the Center also has data showing the magnitude of the proposed tax cuts in each state. The report can be read here.

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