Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7 , Record No.: RS20948, Date: July 21, 2001 (tax incentives) V. Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7 , Record No.: RS20948, Date: July 21, 2001 (tax incentives)

Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7 , Record No.: RS20948, Date: July 21, 2001 (tax incentives) 1 (July 21, 2001)

handle is hein.tera/crstax0529 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20948
Updated July 21, 2001

Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7
Vee Burke
Domestic Social Policy Division

Summary

H.R. 7, the Community Solutions Act, on July 19 won House passage without
amendment by a vote of 233-198. The bill includes basic elements of President Bush's
faith-based initiatives: tax incentives for private giving-scaled back from original
proposals (Title I)-and expansion of charitable choice (Title II). (Title III deals with
individual development accounts.) The House bill would apply to 9 new program areas
charitable choice rules, which forbid discrimination on grounds of religion against faith-
based organizations as providers of specified federally funded services. It includes
provisions aimed at protecting the religious independence of faith-based organizations
(for instance, the right to hire only co-religionists and retain symbols) and protecting the
religious freedom of beneficiaries (for instance, the right to an alternate and accessible
provider). The bill bars use of federal grant/cooperative agreement funds (but not
voucher payments) for sectarian worship. This report will be updated to reflect major
legislative developments.
Charitable choice is a set of provisions in law intended to allow religious
organizations to provide federally funded services from designated programs on the same
basis as any other nongovernmental provider without impairing the religious character of
the organizations or the religious freedom of recipients. Charitable choice contains no
earmarked funding for faith-based organizations. The 1996 welfare reform law first
enacted charitable choice language, applying it to the new block grant program of
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and, to the extent that they use
contracts or vouchers, to food stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI),
and child support enforcement. In 1998, Congress extended charitable choice rules to
grants under the Community Services Block Grant Act and, in 2000, to grants for
prevention and treatment of substance abuse under the Public Health Service Act.
As modified by the Ways and Means Committee and passed by the House, Title I of
H.R. 7 would allow a non-itemizing tax filer in 2002 and 2003 a maximum deduction of
$25 ($50 forjoint filers) for charitable contributions; the amount would increase by stages,
reaching $100 ($200 for joint filers) in 2010. (This provision is estimated to reduce
revenue by $6.4 billion over 10 years, compared with the original proposal's cost of $84
billion.) Other tax provisions in the House bill include allowing persons aged 70-1/2 to
make tax-free withdrawals from their individual retirement accounts for the purpose of
Congressional Research Service °0° The Library of Congress

CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.

Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

What Is HeinOnline?

Purchase Access

Contact Us

Log In

NEED HELP?

CONTACT US

Get started

Subscribe to our Newsletter