If the CARE Act on charitable giving is not passed in the lame duck session, it will have to be re-introduced in the next Congress, and re-considered by the Senate Finance Committee, which as a result of last week's elections, will have a new Republican chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley (IA). Grassley issued a statement on Nov. 6 stating, “My early priorities will include working for full Senate passage of legislation that passed the Finance Committee but stalled under the Senate’s Democratic leadership.” However, he did not specifically list the CARE Act, which was approved by the Finance Committee last summer. Four new Republicans will be joining the committee as a result of three retirements -- Sens. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Phil Gramm (R-TX) and Fred Thompson (R-TN) -- and a seat lost by the Democrats as they become the minority party. Since Sen. Robert Toricelli (D-NJ) did not run for re-election, his seat on the committee will lapse, and current Democratic members are likely to continue. Controversial charitable choice policies may have a new advocate in Senator-elect Jim Talent (R-MO). Talent co-sponsored legislation during his term in the House of Representatives that would have required states to accept theology training in lieu of medical training for substance abuse programs. That bill did not pass.