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• The Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP)
The Emergency Food and Shelter Program remains a ground-breaking and unique public-private partnership possessing a long-history of bipartisan-bicameral support in Congress and with a positive track record of success. The Jewish Federations played an important role in the program’s inception more than 30 year ago and continue to play a major role in its administration, nationally and locally, ever since. Despite the importance of EFSP to millions of households across the country struggling with the prolonged economic recovery, the changing dynamics in Congress, coupled with the tough spending limitations imposed on the federal budget, have made the program susceptible to funding cuts.
In May, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended funding the EFSP program in FY 2017 at $100 million which would constitute a $20 million cut and reduce the program’s allocation to its lowest level in 18-years. In contrast, the House Appropriations Committee recommended in June that Congress maintain the current $120 million level of EFSP funding. With competing funding recommendations, the House and Senate will have to eventually agree on a final spending level for EFSP.
• IRA Charitable Rollover Expansion
For almost 10 years the IRA Charitable Rollover (“rollover”) has been a proven charitable giving incentive that has resulted in almost $40 million in contributions to Jewish Federations. Now that the rollover is a permanent part of the tax code, it is expected that such contributions will continue to grow in future years as more and more Federation supporters age 70 ½ take advantage of this important charitable and estate planning tool.
Earlier this year, several legislative proposals have been introduced in Congress to expand the scope of the rollover. Specifically, these proposals would expand the provision to permit rollovers to donor-advised funds and authorize rollovers for charitable life-income plans (charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts). Generating additional support via attracting additional bi-partisan co-sponsors to these legislative proposals will help convince members of Congress of the benefits of the rollover and these giving vehicles.
• ABLE Act Improvements
One of the greatest concerns of parents of a child or children with disabilities is how to ensure the financial security of their children when the parents pass away. Congress took a great step forward in addressing those concerns with the passage of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE Act) of 2014. That legislation now allows parents or other loved ones of a person with a disability to set aside up to $14,000 a year (with a maximum of $100,000 in the account) for disability related expenses such as medical appointments, home modifications, transportation or educational needs.
The following bipartisan bills were recently introduced to improve the ABLE Act:
• Combating BDS Act
To support state actions against the boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement against Israel, the bipartisan Combating BDS Act of 2016 (H.R.4514/S.2531) was introduced earlier this year by Congressmen Bob Dold (R-IL) and Juan Vargas (D-CA) in the House and by Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) in the Senate. The Combating BDS Act affirms the authority of state and local governments to identify and divest from entities engaged in BDS activities against Israel. This clarification is important because, if passed, the Act would protect state and local governments from lawsuits contending that they are causing undue burden or discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce.
On June 29, the Combating BDS Act was successfully added as an amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs) Appropriations bill. This bill has passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is likely to be brought for a full Senate vote soon. This language is not currently included in the House’s SFOPs Appropriations bill.
• Child Nutrition Reauthorization
The Child Nutrition Act, passed into law in 1966, was created to help ensure that our nation’s children have access to healthy and nutritious food. This law now includes nine federal nutritional programs that impact the lives of millions of children, most of whom are from low-income households, such as:
Every five years, Congress is tasked with reauthorizing the law, known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR), which is a process wherein lawmakers review the legislation and decide future funding levels. The CNR expired on September 30, 2015 and now requires Congressional action. In 2016, the Senate and House introduced two separate pieces of CNR legislation. The House’s bill, the “Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act” (H.R.5003), includes a provision for a three-state school meal block grant demonstration pilot, which would have devastating effects for children in these three states. The Senate’s bipartisan bill, the “Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act,” does not include the block-granting pilot proposal and has broad support from across the child nutrition spectrum.
• Mental Health Reform
There is now unprecedented bipartisan agreement in both chambers of Congress on the need for mental health reform. The Senate is poised to consider a comprehensive mental health reform bill, the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 (S. 2680). Senate action comes on the heels of the House of Representatives passing its version of mental health reform, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016 (H.R. 2646) on July 6th with virtually unanimous support. Both bills contain a number of important provisions that would, if enacted, represent a major step forward in improving the nation’s behavioral healthcare system and would have significant implications for Jewish Federation partner agencies.
Some of the key provisions in the legislation would: