February 12, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
As debate over an economic-stimulus plan moved to the Senate last week, nonprofit groups pushed to head off spending cuts to social programs and to insert new measures to help charities and foundations weather the recession.
Many Republicans in both houses were stepping up pressure to cut spending in a bill that had mushroomed to $900-billion, and some Senate Democrats joined in. That worried some charity leaders, who feared spending cuts could hit proposals to provide billions of new dollars to an array of health and social-services programs to help the growing number of people needing help as the economic crisis deepens.
“We’re getting signals from some of the [Senate] offices that in fact that can happen,” said Candy Hill, senior vice president for Catholic Charities USA. Her group organized a “call-in” last week, urging its members to contact senators to tell them “we really need this on the ground.”
Arts groups were also lobbying to preserve $50-million for the National Endowment for the Arts, included in the bill adopted by the House but not the one drafted by Senate Democrats.
The Senate plan also differs in other ways. But both propose spending $87-billion to increase the federal share of Medicaid, the health program for poor people, through the end of 2010, and billions of dollars in block grants, which go to states to help them provide social services and housing programs. That spending would help nonprofit groups that rely on government contracts in states that face huge budget gaps as tax revenue plummets.
The two bills also propose spending $200-million on AmeriCorps, the national-service program.
The Senate bill tamps down spending on several programs that support charities and their clients.
For example, the House proposes $20-billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (formerly food stamps), the Senate $16.5-billion; the House wants $1-billion for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, the Senate nothing.
But the Senate offers more for a program that social-service charities say is critical — the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program ($3.3-billion compared with the House’s $2.5-billion).
Among the nonprofit groups seeking to influence the final stimulus measure was Independent Sector, a coalition of charities and foundations.
The coalition is fighting for several additional measures, including a $15-billion bridge-loan fund to help charities that are finding it hard to get credit to cover lags in payments from recession-hit state governments.
As an alternative to a bridge loan, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said he offered an amendment that would require states to pay any money they owe charities for running programs like foster care or homeless shelters before states could receive their share of the bill’s federal funds.
Senator Grassley also said he and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, introduced an amendment that would increase the tax deduction for people who use their vehicles to volunteer.
Grant Williams contributed to this article.
