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LSA Washington – March 30, 2009

A regular publication from the LSA Public Policy Office

National Service Legislation Passes Senate; House and White House Action Expected Early This Week

National service and volunteerism legislation passed the Senate 79-19 on March 26. Thank you to all who contacted the Senate and the White House about this important legislation. The legislation will be voted on by the House on Monday, March 30, and the President is expected to sign the bill into law Monday evening. At the end of the Senate vote, the bill was renamed in honor of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who has brain cancer, as The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.

When the legislation becomes law, it completes the authorization process. The law will still need funding and will be part of the budget and appropriations process currently underway.

The national service legislation has many provisions that will benefit LSA members. National service program participants will more than triple, from 75,000 to 250,000 stipend workers. Programs such as AmeriCorps and SeniorCorps will continue and new service programs will be created such as Healthy Futures Corps, Clean Energy Service Corps, Veterans Corps and Opportunity Corps, the latter with a goal of increasing financial literacy. Educational awards for the Corps programs will be increased from $4,725 to $5,350, the maximum Pell grant. Individuals over age 55 could transfer the educational award to a child, foster child, or grandchild.

The legislation prohibits those in national service programs from using their service position to lobby, participate in boycotts or strikes, conduct voter registration drives, engage in partisan political activities, or provide abortion services or referrals, among other activities during work hours.

Other provisions of interest to LSA members include:

A Volunteer Generation Fund that will help nonprofit organizations to recruit, manage or support volunteers.
A Nonprofit Capacity Building Fund will make grants to intermediary nonprofit organizations to provide training on best practices, financial planning, grant writing, and compliance with tax laws for small and midsize nonprofit organizations, particularly those that have been facing hardship.
Silver Scholarships will provide a $1,000 educational national service award and Encore Fellowships will receive a stipend for his or her service.
Middle and High School students will receive a $500 educational award for summer service.
The National Service Reserve Corps will help respond to disasters or emergencies in partnership with FEMA and nonprofit organizations engaged in disaster response.
The Social Innovation Funds Pilot Program will provide funding for developing innovative and effective solutions to national and local challenges.
Foster children will benefit from a new mentoring program.
Additional funding will be available for organizations that support individuals with disabilities participation in national service.

For more information on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, national service and volunteerism, please see the LSA public policy website.

--Lisa Carr

FY2010 Budget Resolutions Pass in Budget Committees

Last week, both the House and Senate Budget Committees voted to pass budget resolutions for fiscal year 2010. Both votes were along party lines, with all Democrats on the committees voting for the resolutions and all Republicans on the committees voting against. Both resolutions include approximately $3.5 trillion in spending, down from the $3.6 trillion proposal laid out by the Obama administration in late February. The full House and Senate are expected to vote on the resolutions this week.

It is not yet certain if the House and Senate will use a procedural maneuver called reconciliation to help move significant initiatives in the Administration's proposal, namely the health care reform initiative expected to cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years. One of the proposed funding sources for the health care reform initiative, a cap in the deduction level for itemized deductions for high-income households, is being carefully watched in the non-profit community. President Obama defended the proposal in his televised press conference last Tuesday, but several influential members of Congress have expressed their concerns with it. As a part of the Serve America Act debate, Senator John Thune (R-SD) offered an amendment expressing the "sense of the Senate" that the highest itemized deduction level should remain at 35%; the amendment was voted down 48-49. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) offered an amendment to express a "sense of the Senate" that charitable giving itemized deductions in general should be preserved; the Baucus amendment passed with a vote of 56-41.

For more information on the itemized deduction proposal, please read guest contributor Dave Roth's article in this issue of LSA Washington. To learn more about the FY2010 federal budget, please join us for an LSA public policy advocacy conference call on this issue at 2PM ET on Thursday, April 2; please RSVP to the LSA DC office by noon on April 2 to participate.

--Lisa Hassenstab

Guest Contributor Dave Roth: Proposed Change in Itemized Deduction

In his news conference last Tuesday, President Obama defended his proposal to cut the tax deductions that wealthy Americans can claim. There has been bipartisan criticism of his proposal, which reduces the deduction for those with incomes over $250,000 to 28%, down from 35%. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University predicts a $3.9 billion annual decrease in itemized giving by affected households. The Center calls the impact “a relatively small negative effect on charitable giving overall,” and opposes the change.

The President’s proposal would save $318 billion over ten years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which supports the proposal. Proponents argue that the benefit of health care reform outweighs the cost of reduced giving. Opponents counter that most nonprofits are already struggling and this is not time to make things worse. Proponents and opponents agree that declines in personal income and wealth have a greater impact on giving than tax policy changes, so the current economic crisis is the greatest threat to giving.

The impact would likely be greatest on those nonprofits that rely on wealthy donors. Of gifts of one million dollars or more, 5% go to human services and 2% go to religion, while 72% go to higher education, health and medical, and arts and culture (Chronicle of Philanthropy, Jan. 10, 2009) The President’s proposal is a policy dilemma for LSA members, as important benefits are gained or lost either way.

--Dave Roth, Director of Advocacy & Civic Engagement, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois

Health Care Reform Advocacy Meetings Taking Place Near You

Thank you to those who contacted the Senate to ask that long-term services and supports be included in health care reform. The call-in day generated nearly 5,000 calls to the Senate. The Senate Finance Committee is holding hearings on long-term services and supports in health care reform and a resolution has been introduced in the House on the same issue.

Advocates are encouraged to call their U.S. House and Senate members to request meetings when members of Congress are in their home states and congressional districts April 6 through 17 to discuss health care reform. If you would like to join in meetings with local members of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), e-mail Lauren Shaham or call her at 202-508-1219.

--Lisa Carr

Last Chance: Nominate Your Members of Congress for a Congressional Award

LSA will once again give awards to members of Congress who support important legislation and support LSA members in their work of loving and serving neighbors. Six awards will be given to members of Congress at the Congressional Reception taking place during the LSA Annual Conference the evening of Wednesday, April 29. Please send your nomination to the LSA DC office with the word “awards” in the subject line. The deadline for nominations is close of business Monday, March 30.

Meet With Your Members of Congress and the Obama Administration

The LSA Annual Conference is quickly approaching! We hope that you will join us for meetings with members of the Obama Administration, members of Congress and their staffs, and the Hill reception in the beautiful Russell Caucus Room. You can click here to find details on the following opportunities:

Meetings with the Obama Administration Please e-mail Lisa Carr if you would like to attend one or more of these meetings. They are being scheduled for the afternoons of April 29 and 30. We may not be able to accept all requests, but we look forward to hearing from you.
Meetings with your members of Congress and their staff It is not too late to request meetings. The afternoons of April 29 and 30 are the best time for Hill meetings. To find contact information for your members of Congress, go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. If you have questions, would like more information, or have already scheduled meetings, please contact Lisa Hassenstab. If you want to join others in meetings that have already been scheduled, contact Lisa H as well.
Invite your members of Congress to our Reception on the Hill from 5:30 to 7:00 pm on Wednesday, April 29 in Russell Office Building – SR-325. Click here for a PDF version of the invitation to send to your members of Congress. If members of Congress or their staff you have invited indicate they will attend the reception, please email Lisa Hassenstab with their name and, if they are staff, what member of Congress they work for.

Not yet registered for the conference? Registration is quick and easy online!

Legislation Reintroduced to Reform the Section 811 Supportive Housing Program

On March 23, Rep. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) introduced the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1675). Its purpose is to reform the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program. The legislation was first introduced during the last Congress. The House passed the legislation by a voice vote, but it was unable to progress in the Senate due to the end of the legislative session.

The current Section 811 program provides capital advances that allow for the construction of supportive housing units and project rental assistance contracts that allow people with disabilities to pay a maximum of 30 percent of their income for those units. This legislation would implement reforms to the current program that would streamline Section 811 processing and eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic requirements. The reforms would also improve incentives to leverage affordable housing funding and create a new multi-family category to encourage the development of integrated projects. The legislation also provides for a demonstration program that uses only the project rental assistance contracts to leverage housing units in developments financed with low income housing tax credits or other sources of state or local government controlled capital.

For more information on this legislation, please visit www.lsadnadvocacy.org to view a presentation from LSA-DN’s February public policy conference call on Section 811. If you are not already a member of LSA-DN’s e-advocacy website, navigate to the above website and click “sign up.”

--Heather Ansley

LSA Public Policy Conference Call on FY2010 Budget and Appropriations – April 2, 2:00 pm ET.

Join staff from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) as they update LSA members on the status of the budget resolution, provide an update on President Obama’s full budget request (an outline was released in February), and give an outlook for appropriations for the coming fiscal year. This briefing will be of assistance for those participating in meetings with Congress while in Washington, D.C. for the LSA Annual Conference. To RSVP for the conference call, please e-mail the LSA DC office and type “budget” in the subject line. Please RSVP by noon on April 2.

In addition to the April 2 call, please mark your calendars for these additional LSA public policy advocacy conference calls in April:

April 9, 2:00pm ET – Dos and Don'ts of Legislative Visits
April 16, 2:00 pm ET – Update on LSA Public Policy Priorities