Marvin Olasky: The three political parties of Congress

Marvin Olasky: The three political parties of Congress:
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"Now, four CC co-sponsors of the Senate Republican Poverty Alleviation Agenda -- Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Jim Talent of Missouri -- are fighting for a 12-part agenda that includes some excellent items:
-- Passage of the CARE Act, which would allow non-itemizers to deduct from income taxes their charitable contributions, encourage contributions from IRAs and other accounts, and provide incentives for food donations to those in need.
-- Welfare reform reauthorization, which (unless ruined by amendments) will continue the progress made possible by the 1996 legislation: Since then, welfare rolls are down by over 50 percent, millions have exchanged welfare checks for paychecks and fewer children are impoverished.
-- Passage or expansion of tax credits for companies that transport donated food, construct or refurbish homes affordable by low-income people or hire the poor. (Instead of adding specialized credits that merely counteract some of the disincentives created by existing law regulation, and litigation, Congress should pass a general tax credit for poverty-fighting donations from individual taxpayers, but that's unlikely to happen.)
-- Charitable liability reform to expand protection for contributors of vehicles and other equipment to nonprofits. (This is one area where we have seen legislative progress through measures such as the Volunteer Protection Act and the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.) "