Tax Legislation

CARE Act Passed by House and Senate

The U.S. Senate passed the CARE Act (S. 476) on April 9, 2003, by a vote of 95 to 5. The House passed its companion bill, H.R. 7, on September 17, 2003. The Senate must now take action to send the bill to a House-Senate conference committee, which will resolve differences between H.R. 7 and the CARE Act (S. 476).

• Letter to Senators Frist and Daschle from INDEPENDENT SECTOR and 20 other organizations
• Information on the CARE Act 
• Charitable Giving Act (H.R. 7)

The strong and historic opportunity to finally pass critical charitable giving incentives this year has hit a snag in the Senate—and once again we need your help to move the CARE Act (S. 476)/Charitable Giving Act (H.R. 7) forward.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives have passed charitable giving bills, but the differences in the two bills must be worked out in a Senate-House conference committee before final legislation can be enacted. This conference can’t get to work due to a hold-up in the Senate.

Republican Senate leaders tried twice to get a “unanimous consent” agreement to send the CARE Act (S. 476) along with a tax package, including child tax credit refund legislation and the extension of several expiring tax provisions, to conference with the House. In the last attempt, Democratic Senators objected to the agreement, saying they are protesting their exclusion from active conference negotiations.

Time is running out. Because this is such an important opportunity for charities and the people they serve, INDEPENDENT SECTOR is asking all in the nonprofit and philanthropic community to call their Senators immediately urging them to resolve these differences and send the CARE Act (S.476) to conference with the House now.

ACTION: Contact your Senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

The message should include the following:

• I urge Senator _________ to resolve differences over the “unanimous consent” agreement and move the CARE Act (S. 476) to conference with the House now;
• The bill has overwhelming support—the Senate passed it by a vote of 95-5;
• Charities are struggling to meet increased service demands with diminished resources and need this legislation which provides a number of important incentives to increase charitable giving; and
• It’s critical for Congress to enact the CARE Act this year.

Additional points you may want to use in your calls:

• My own organization... [tell them how your organization has been affected by declines in giving or increased service demands. Numbers and statistics are helpful.]
• This bill will provide recognition and encouragement to the millions of Americans who take the standard deduction and currently receive no direct tax benefit for their charitable gifts.
• The IRA Rollover provision will remove the tax barriers that currently discourage older Americans from making charitable gifts from the additional resources in their individual retirement accounts.
• Additional funding through the provisions in the CARE Act would allow my organization to... [tell them how additional funding would impact your organization, again focusing on particular programs and services.]

Thank you for your efforts. As always, please share any feedback from senators you think may be helpful to us. Contact Mauricio Vivero, at mauricio@IndependentSector.org

INDEPENDENT SECTOR will continue working on behalf of its members to pass this crucial charitable giving legislation.

Last updated:  May 19, 2004