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March 15, 2004
A Caring
Coalition
March 15, 2004
By Brody Mullins and Zach Miller,
Roll Call Staff
Republican
leaders in the House and Senate have put together what they
believe is the first bipartisan, bicameral coalition in
years to pressure Senate Minority Leader
Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to give final approval to
charitable giving legislation that has been bottled up in
the Senate.
On Thursday, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Senate
Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) met with more
than 200 outside groups in the Capitol to kick off the effort.
At the meeting, the Republican leaders encouraged the groups to
send letters to Daschle s office urging him to release a
procedural block on the CARE Act, which
is sponsored by Santorum and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). The
House version of the bill is championed by Blunt and Rep. Harold
Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.).
Those at the meeting included Robert Andringa of the Council for
Christian Colleges and Universities,
Nathan Diament of the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America, Marc Lampkin of Quinn Gillespie &
Associates and Samantha Poole of Fierce,
Isakowitz & Blalock.
Daschle, who voted for the bill when it passed the Senate 95-5
last year, has thrown roadblocks in
front of the bill because Republicans have left him out
of final negotiations on the popular legislation.
www.rollcall.com
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