Yesterday, as a broad spectrum of faith leaders met on Capitol Hill with congressional and Administration leaders to discuss the moral need for healthcare reform, Senator Dick Durbin told the group that they ought to be reading “the article every senator is reading” about the cost issues – Atul Gawande’s exploration of the “cost conundrum.”

But as they grapple with proposals of how to pay for healthcare reform, we would add to the senators’ reading lists the latest issue of Commentary Magazine’s article on the “war on philanthropy.”

President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are making their major push to get healthcare reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives and introduced in the Senate within the next three weeks.

One of the most difficult policy debates pending is how the new system will be financed and the notion of reducing the tax deductability of contributions to charities remains in the mix.

This is a notion that the Orthodox Union, along with so many others in the non-profit sector, oppose because it will be devastating to charities and those they serve. Policymakers must not embrace it.

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