WASHINGTON -- Senate negotiators have reached agreement on President Bush's signature legislation to boost charities, congressional officials said, likely resolving an issue that has bedeviled the administration for the past year as it sought ways to help religious organizations provide social services.
President Bush has scheduled an announcement for Thursday to voice his support for the legislation, which his aides helped to draft with Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., their parties' leaders on the subject.
In talks with the senators, the White House jettisoned the controversial elements of the legislation, provisions that would have made it easier for religious groups to compete for government grants without compromising their beliefs. A coalition of civil libertarians and religious conservatives argued that such provisions would cause an unconstitutional blending between church and state.
The package that has emerged includes mostly financial provisions to increase public and private support for nonprofit groups that seek to aid the poor and disadvantaged through shelters, drug treatment and other programs. It allows a charitable tax deduction for those who do not itemize on their tax returns, a Compassionate Capital Fund to encourage public-private partnerships and the restoration of funding to the Social Services block grant, a pool of federal money for community organizations.
"We are pleased with the progress being made in the Senate on key elements of the president's Armies of Compassion agenda," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday night.
Even with the White House's blessing, the Senate agreement faces one final hurdle: negotiation with the House, which passed a measure including the "charitable choice" provisions that raised issues of separation between church and state. Liberals objected to the proposals because they could allow religious charities to discriminate against gays in hiring, while conservatives worried government interference could compromise religious charities' spiritual mission.
Senate officials warned that Democrats would reject any effort to restore the provisions they consider objectionable in a conference with the House. White House and Senate officials declined to provide the cost of the agreement by Senate negotiators.
Before the accord was reached, the White House had been recasting its "faith-based initiative" following the terrorist strikes of Sept. 11 to emphasize volunteer service.
Charity legislation passed the House last year on a party-line vote after Democrats and some GOP moderates objected to provisions that could allow religious charities receiving government money to discriminate in hiring. The proposals stalled in the Senate as Lieberman and Santorum struggled to find bipartisan agreement.
Late last year, Bush offered to drop, at least temporarily, the controversial "charitable choice" provisions. In his State of the Union Address, he called on Congress "to encourage the good work of charities and faith-based groups."