The Senate version of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations contains money for the Bush Administration's "Compassion Capital Fund," which could grant money to faith-based organizations for service provision. The bill (S. 1536), which is scheduled to be taken up on Tuesday, contains a provision for $89 million for the fund, as well as at least $33 million to be used on other faith-based programs (including "maternity group homes"). There have been reports that a large amount (over $30 million) of the "Compassion Capitol Fund" money will be used to fund studies on the efficacy of faith-based nonprofits by Public Private Ventures, a group chaired by John DiIulio, the outgoing head of the White House faith- based office. Currently, there is little or no evidence to suggest that faith-based nonprofits are any more effective than secular nonprofits. It's hard to imagine that any studies conducted by the former head of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives would be fair and unbiased. Despite sporadic reports of action, there is a great degree of uncertainty around the outlook for legislative action on charitable choice given the new set of challenges facing the country. Initially, the Bush administration stated that passing charitable choice legislation would still be a priority, but no action has been taken. There is broad support from the nonprofit community for the passage of charitable giving incentives that were part of the administration's original faith-based package, but any legislation that includes the direct federal funding of churches is very controversial.