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| home > legislative update > 12.13.07
Legislative Status: December 13, 2007 Update from Capitol Hill: The big news on Capitol Hill these days is about the imminent departure of former Senate Majority Leader and current Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS). In a surprise move, Senator Lott announced that he will resign at the end of 2007 – leaving a significant void in Republican leadership. Senator Lott’s retirement now means that both Mississippi Senate seats will be up for re-election in 2008. As you may recall, Senator Lott was just re-elected in 2006. Now, Governor Haley Barbour (a Republican) will appoint Senator Lott’s replacement who will serve until a special election is held in November of 2008. The leading candidates to replace Senator Lott are Representatives Charles “Chip” Pickering and Roger Wicker – both Republicans. Senator Lott’s retirement will open up a seat on the Senate Finance Committee – one of the most prestigious in the Senate and the committee with jurisdiction over the tax-exempt community. We understand that the most likely to take his seat on the Committee are: Senators John Sununu (R-NH), Michael Enzi (R-WY), and Norm Coleman (R-MN). Also announcing his retirement was Representative James McCrery (R-LA) – the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee. The retirement of Representative McCrery means that House leadership must appoint another member to the prestigious Ways and Means Committee and the Committee will have to elect a new Ranking Member. We understand that the race for McCrery’s open seat is shaping up to be a two-person race between Representatives Wally Herger (R-CA) and Dave Camp (R-MI). Representative Camp, currently the Ranking Member on the Health Subcommittee, is viewed by many in Washington as having the “inside track” to the position due to his strong ties to leadership, track record and fundraising ability. On the other hand, Representative Herger (R-CA) is the most senior Republican remaining on the Committee and has openly expressed his interest in assuming the position. The race will ultimately be decided by a vote of the Republican Steering Committee next November.
Legislative Update: Typically, December is relatively quiet on Capitol Hill; but not this year. Due to a philosophical divide between Democrats and Republicans about whether or not to offset certain piece of legislation, Congress has struggled to enact several vital bills. This week, the House of Representatives passed, for a second time, an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) “patch” bill that is fully offset (paid for). In the Senate, the legislation faces a stiff challenge as Senate Republicans favor passing the AMT patch without offsets. The legislation, in its current form, also faces a veto threat from the White House. It was expected that this legislation would also carry the tax extenders with it, however, it appears that with so little time remaining in the year, the tax extenders bill will not get done in 2007. The extenders tax bill, as you may recall, included the extension of the IRA charitable rollover provision, which is scheduled to expire on December 31st. In the past, Congress has been able to extend expiring tax provisions retroactively so, even though these provisions expire at the end of 2007, Congress may still extend these largely popular items early in 2008.
Philanthropy in the News: On Monday, December 10th, there was an extensive article in the Wall Street Journal focusing on the effectiveness of charities. [click here to view the article] The article, entitled “How Charities Can Make Themselves More Open” suggests that charities should make additional information available about how they appropriate their funds. According to the author, “if charities and foundations were more open about the problems they face, the public would have a better understanding of the hard work they do.” As you may have noticed, this article is part of a steady drumbeat of media attention focused on the charitable community. We expect this attention to translate to a greater focus on the charitable community in the next legislative session and, as always, will continue to keep you apprised of any developments. |
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