Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), a co-sponsor of the CARE Act, told BNA last week about an effort to resolve one major difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill- offsets to make up for lost revenue from expanded tax deductions for charities.

The House Administration Committee scheduled a Nov. 11 hearing to investigate the ways in which political action committees (PACs) are using soft money after passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). Chair Bob Ney (R-OH) issued a news release saying, “In recent months, many of us in the Congress have watched with increasing concern as organizations have been formed in the wake of BCRA with the apparent intent of using soft money to influence federal elections -- something which the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act purported to ban.”

On Nov. 13, the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a request for comments in the Federal Register stating their intention to survey all 2,700 Head Start grantees in the country about salaries and benefits of their employees. The survey is in response to a request from members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, which asked for a “review of the financial management of Head Start grantees nationwide.”

The unusual federal prosecution of Greenpeace poses a threat to first amendment rights.