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.