URGENT: take action NOW for nonprofits in USA!!
04:25, 24 March 2009
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management.. Link
The USA Senate is scheduled to take up the Serve America Act (S. 277) today, which would dramatically expand proven national service programs that would tap the energy and idealism of volunteers and benefit communities. Unfortunately, the House -- hopefully, unwittingly -- adopted a last-minute anti-democratic "poison pill" by Rep. Virginia Fox (R-NC) as part of its version of the service bill, the GIVE Act (H.R. 1388). (Indeed, Rep. Foxx voted against the law even with her poison pill.) The Foxx provision would prohibit individuals and organizations that participate in National Service programs from engaging in certain activities, including lobbying, even with private funds and outside the context of National Service programs. It even would ban participation in national service programs for organizations "co-located" on the same premises as an organization that lobbies for charitable purposes.
The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) notes, "These provisions echo the ugly, shameful and discredited Istook Amendment, which was soundly defeated by the nonprofit and broader community."
Please call your Senator immediately and warn them about this anti-nonprofit and anti-democratic "poison pill" contained in the House's GIVE Act. Ask them to make sure that the sneaky Foxx language in the House is NOT included in the Senate and the final national service legislation.
There has rarely been as important a moment as now to encourage an engaged citizenry in public policy and public service. Civic participation is the touchstone of American democracy. Please call your Senators now and tell them to pass national service legislation without the poison pill of anti-nonprofit and anti-democratic restrictions.
