CASE Actively Represents Advancement in Washington, D.C.
As a membership association, CASE plays an important role in advocacy for legislation that impacts the work of our members on behalf of their institutions.
“Ensuring legislators and other policymakers consider the perspectives of our members and understand issues affecting philanthropy and education are key to CASE’s purpose,” says Brian Flahaven, CASE’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Chair of the Charitable Giving Coalition. “We also take seriously our role in keeping members up to date on legislation that may impact or be of interest to them.”
Below, we provide an update on three bills related to charitable deductions, foreign gift reporting, and legacy admission policies.
CASE Participates in White House Roundtable on Charitable Giving
On November 7, Sue Cunningham, CASE President and CEO, and Flahaven joined other U.S. nonprofit sector leaders at a White House Roundtable to encourage the Biden-Harris Administration to support the Charitable Act (S. 566/H.R. 3435). If enacted, the bipartisan Charitable Act would restore and expand a charitable deduction for non-itemizers, allowing individuals to deduct gifts up to $4,600 for individuals ($9,200 for joint filers) through 2024.
Cunningham, Flahaven, and other leaders encouraged the Administration to support the Charitable Act during discussions and negotiations around a year-end tax package. The roundtable was led by Steven Benjamin, Senior Advisor and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and included representatives from the National Economic Council, Domestic Policy Council, Office of Legislative Affairs, and U.S. Department of Treasury. White House officials also asked sector participants questions about the latest trends in charitable giving, particularly the impact of the long-term decline in the total number of donors in the U.S. on their organizations and members.
CASE asks institutions to consider signing on to a Charitable Giving Coalition letter urging key tax leaders to support passage of the Charitable Act in year-end tax legislation. More than 700 nonprofit organizations from across the country have already signed on to the letter, which the coalition plans to send to Capitol Hill on Giving Tuesday. If your school, college, or university wants to join the letter, please click the link below. Please be sure to check with your government relations staff prior to signing on to the letter.
House Committee Advances Legislation to Lower Foreign Gift Reporting Threshold
On November 8, the House Education and Workforce Committee marked up and advanced wide-ranging foreign gift disclosure and higher education transparency legislation–the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act (H.R. 5933)–in a bipartisan 27 to 11 vote.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Education and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC), would lower the $250,000 foreign gift reporting threshold for colleges and universities to $50,000 for any country and $0 for countries of concern (China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia), require staff at research-heavy institutions to disclose foreign gifts and contracts, and require private institutions with large endowments to disclose foreign investments in their endowments, among other reforms. For more information, you can find the American Council of Education’s (ACE) summary of the bill here.
While Democratic lawmakers have generally opposed GOP-led efforts to change the foreign gift reporting threshold, three Democrats–Joe Courtney (D-CT), Susan Wild (D-PA), and Kathy Manning (D-NC)–voted with Republicans in favor of the legislation. During the markup, both Reps. Manning and Courtney mentioned foreign influence on college and university campuses, highlighting the bipartisan concerns over institutions’ connections to foreign countries, specifically China. Of note, Chair Foxx sought to tie the bill to the Israel-Hamas war in the markup, asserting postsecondary education is a target for adversaries to steal secrets and undermine national principles, which could give the bill some political expediency in the House as lawmakers seek to respond to that crisis. Foxx told reporters following the markup that she was hopeful the bill would be taken up by the full chamber “fairly soon.” However, it is unclear when the House may consider the bill and whether it would do so as a standalone measure or packaged with other legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.
CASE signed on to a letter led by ACE to the committee sent ahead of the markup laying out higher education’s concerns with the bill and requesting certain sections be struck from the measure. Unfortunately, the committee neglected to address their concerns and kept the problematic provisions in the bill. CASE will continue to urge Congress to address concerns prior to final consideration and passage.
Bipartisan Senate Bill Introduced Legislation Banning Legacy Admissions
On November 7, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) introduced legislation–Merit-Based Educational Reforms and Institutional Transparency (MERIT) Act (S. 3232)–that would effectively end the practice of legacy admissions. The bill would amend the Higher Education Act to add a new standard for accreditation, preventing accredited colleges and universities from giving applicants “preferential treatment” during the admissions process. Preferential treatment would include making an admissions decision where an applicant’s relationship with an alumnus of, or donor to, the institution serves as the determinative factor. The bill does clarify, however, that this new standard should not be perceived as preventing institutions from considering an applicant’s genuine interest in the college or university as part of the admissions process.
Of note, Sen. Young is the first congressional Republican to support legislation seeking to outlaw legacy admissions. Earlier this year, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Jamal Bowman (D-NY) reintroduced the Fair College Admissions for Students Act (H.R. 4900, S. 2524) this summer, which would ban colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacy students or donors. Unlike the MERIT Act, that bill only has Democratic support (43 House cosponsors, 2 Senate cosponsors). A House companion for the MERIT Act has not been introduced, and the Senate version has no cosponsors.
CASE has consistently taken the position that institutions are best able to determine whether an applicant’s familial ties to alumni should be considered a factor when building a holistic, diverse admissions class. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision on race-conscious admissions, CASE is encouraging members and institutional leaders to re-examine their admissions policies and practices to determine how best to achieve a diverse student body.