NPQ - Publications - Back Issues: e-Newsletter - November 2005 - Slippery Slope Leads to Rocky Road for Nonprofits: "Slippery Slope Leads to Rocky Road for Nonprofits
by Rick Cohen
Sometimes, the nonprofit sector has to “just say no”—and say it with courage and power, even with the possible consequence of rejecting long-sought government funding programs. As has occurred many times before, the nonprofit sector faces new challenges that threaten to strip charities of their advocacy and free speech rights at the price of access to government and even quasi-public dollars.
The 30-day battle that took place in October concerning housing legislation foreshadows the rocky road ahead for nonprofits. When the U.S. House of Representatives on October 26 overwhelmingly approved legislation to modify the oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s two behemoth governmentally sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in the home mortgage field, something was seriously amiss.
As part of the bill, H.R.1461, the House also approved the creation of an affordable housing trust fund to be capitalized by 3.5 percent of Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits. The problem? Congress acceded to the demand of the arch-conservative wing of the Republican Party, in this case in the form of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), to attach restrictions that applied to nonprofits and only nonprofits interested in applying to the fund for affordable housing project subsidies, restrictions unrelated to affordable housing, the functions of the housing trust fund, or anything other than ultra-conservative Republican animus."
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