Roy Blunt: “Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here to talk about this bill. This is a tax bill. It is a tax bill that really is an…”

“Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here to talk about this bill. This is a tax bill. It is a tax bill that really is an important step toward what we do for charities in this country. It is an important step in the President's faith-based agenda; but certainly as a tax bill that encourages charitable giving, all that giving is not necessarily done to faith-based institutions. This has broad bipartisan support. I am pleased with the way the Committee on Ways and Means dealt with this bill and brought this bill to the floor without any dissenting votes on Tuesday of last week. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ford), a cosponsor of the bill, worked hard on this bill; and we have over 80 bipartisan House cosponsors working with us on this bill. The truth is our charities need some encouragement. They have faced some difficult times. 2001 was the first year that charitable giving in this country was lower than the year before. Giving in 2002 seems to continue to reflect that trend. Corporate giving fell by almost 15 percent between 2000 and 2001. As we look towards what this does for charities generally, we can also look at what it does for faith-based charities which are so important in providing services in the country. Seventy-five percent of the food pantries in America are run by religious organizations, 71 percent of the food kitchens are faith based, 43 percent of the shelters are run by the faith-based community.”