Opinion: President Bush Falls Short on His Plan to Help Religious Charities

Even as President Bush called on Congress last night to permanently extend his efforts to help religious groups get government grants, the real job of advancing the role of religious groups will fall to the next president, say two former White House officials in a New York Times opinion article.

That is because Mr. Bush failed to deliver on his promise, says the article, by David Kuo, deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2002-3, and John J. DiIulio Jr., who directed the office in 2001.

“Every nonpartisan study has concluded that the initiative has not delivered the grants, vouchers, tax incentives, and other support for faith-based organizations that the president originally promised,” they write.

With many state governments turning to faith-based charities to provide social services and opinion showing that most Americans support federal-grant eligibility for religious organizations, the authors conclude that “[i]t will be left to the next president to deliver on those promises” made by President Bush.

Read an opinion article from The Chronicle outlining how the next president should aid religious charities.

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