Senate-Passed Stimulus Bill Does Not Include Philanthropy Measures

“Our game plan is to maximize all we can in this opportunity, and if it doesn’t present itself, to look for other vehicles in legislative calendar in 2009,” he says.

Independent Sector says the bridge-loan fund is critical, and it will continue to fight for it if it does not end up in the stimulus package.

Senator Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, had hoped to insert an alternative to the fund in the Senate stimulus bill, but it was not adopted. That amendment would have required states to pay any money they owe charities for running programs like foster care or homeless shelters before states could receive their share of the bill’s federal funds.

Mr. Grassley and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, also sought but failed to amend the economic stimulus package with a pair of provisions that focus on how much hospitals do to provide services to patients at little or no cost.

One amendment would have required that several federal bodies work to develop a single, uniform definition of uncompensated care and charity care.

The other amendment would have required the IRS to study the activities of for-profit hospitals and focus on the amount of uncompensated care they provide.

Senator Grassley, who is a member of the House-Senate conference committee that will now work to reconcile the bill, will try to revive his proposals during the upcoming negotiations, said Jill Gerber, a spokeswoman for Mr. Grassley.