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1 1 (June 14, 2004)

handle is hein.crs/crsahqt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20948 Updated June 14, 2004 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7 Vee Burke Domestic Social Policy Division Summary H.R. 7, the Community Solutions Act, on July 19, 2001, won House passage 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.) H.R. 7 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. Note: This bill expired at the end of the 107th Congress. President Bush then issued an Executive Order (013279) directing several Cabinet departments to adopt charitable choice rules to the extent permitted by law. 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, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). 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 for joint 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- Congressional Research Service +o The Library of Congress

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