Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (Senate - April 02, 2009)

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AMENDMENT NO. 803

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I send my amendment to the desk.

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, my amendment is very straightforward. It creates a budget point of order against any legislation that would raise revenue from a reduction in the tax deduction for charitable donations.

What the Senator from North Dakota is going to say is that it is not included in his budget. As we know, this is a long process, and we also know the President, in his budget, included a proposal that would reduce the amount people could claim as a tax benefit for a charitable donation.

Again, we don't know what is going to happen from this point forward in the budget process. This could go into conference, and a provision like this could be added. Again, this places a point of order against any legislation that would raise revenue from the tax deduction for charitable giving.

Americans gave $300 billion in 2007 to charitable causes, which is equal to 2 percent of our GDP.

A Washington Post article said this:

Diana Aviv, [president of Independent Sector, a national membership organization of charities] said any decrease in charitable giving caused by Obama's proposal, no matter how small, would be `seen as a stake in the heart.' ''--``With all other means of income down, the idea that there will be another potential cut to the income of those nonprofit organizations feels catastrophic,'' Aviv said. ``It is utterly unacceptable.''

I hope my colleagues will vote for this amendment.

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