White House office on faith-based initatives: full speed ahead
The White House apparently really is moving full speed ahead with its plans to expand the role of faith-based organizations in federally funded social services. (This despite earlier comments from senior staffers that it was postponing.) "The administration has begun to set up offices inside five federal agencies—the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Education—to dismantle obstacles that have blocked faith-based organizations from receiving federal contracts in the past," reports the Los Angeles Times. And John DiIulio, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, says he'll be publishing a "guide to charitable choices" in the next few weeks even further detailing the office's plans. The guide, he promises, will answer critics both on the left and the right. "I've learned in Washington," he told the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism, "when someone appears to be learning and listening, people think they're equivocating and retreating." (World magazine notes that unlike his speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, DiIulio's message to the Reform Jewish leaders "offered no remarks questioning this audience's commitment to the poor." Ouch.)
But while the White House may want to move ahead at warp speed, the Senate might slow the program down. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), one of the Senate's biggest supporters of Bush's plan and the lead sponsor in the Senate of implementing it, says he's splitting the legislative side of Bush's proposal in two. The first, which will be offered within days, will seek to implement the less controversial aspects of Bush's faith-based initiative, such as allowing taxpayers who don't itemize to claim deductions for charitable contributions, creating tax break for banks that use individual development accounts, and limiting the liability for companies that offer in-kind contributions. The heart of Bush's plans, however—expanding the kinds of social service grants that churches and religious organizations can compete for—will be postponed for "several months to a year," according to The Washington Post. "My sense is we're looking within the next year for them to work out the bugs," Santorum tells the paper. "The timing may be right then."
More news articles on Bush's faith based initative:
Faith in government? | Debate heats up over plans to reshape ties between the state and religious groups. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Opinion on Bush's faith based initative:
Fund individuals | A way to save President Bush's faith-based initiative (Marvin Olasky, World)
You're clear to land | A great proposal for how to deal with all the air traffic delays in America these days: "faith-based air traffic control." (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times)
Faith-based politics | Obstacles to providing services can be overcome (Editorial, The Dallas Morning News)
A faith-based quagmire | Mr. Bush's goal, "to invigorate the spirit of involvement and citizenship" in America, is laudable. However, that goal is best achieved through secular nonprofit groups. (Editorial, The Hartford Courant)
Thomas Jefferson and Bush's faith-based initiative:
What Would Jefferson Do? | The man who invented the "wall of separation" attended church services on government property. (The Wall Street Journal)
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