Under pressure from nonprofit groups, the Office of Personnel Management, the independent federal agency that manages civil service government employment, proposed last month to drop an unclear certification requirement discouraging nonprofits from conducting legally-permissible issue advocacy.

On July 17, 2006 an attorney representing several religious organizations wrote to the IRS requesting that the agency revise its new procedures for initiating audits of religious groups. According to the letter, the process is inconsistent with First Amendment protections codified by Congress in 1984, and was implemented without pubic notice or comment. The letter is the latest in a series of public criticisms of the IRS approach to oversight of religious and charitable organizations, including a recent OMB Watch report.

Over the last week, Capitol Hill has been abuzz with speculation that House and Senate GOP leaders were engaging in a last-ditch effort to attach a provision gutting the estate tax to a sensitive and complicated pension reform conference report. The sneaky move failed, however, as Senate Majority Leader Bill First (R-TN) announced today he could not convince a number of key Republicans, particularly Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), to support it. In related news, President Bush has moved to gut IRS estate tax enforcement.

Legislation introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) that would retroactively legalize the president's NSA wiretapping program will be the focus of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for July 26. The National Security Surveillance Act (S. 2543) would also create a legal framework for future surveillance of American citizens.