PUBLIC POLICY UPDATE December 21, 2012 WASHINGTON UPDATE Events on Capitol Hill have been in a constant state

of flux this week. At the time of publicat publication, here is where things stood: Legislative Update Negotiations between congressional leaders and the president over the looming fiscal cliff ongressional resident reached their lowest point yet on Thursday night when Speaker of the House John Boehner (Rnight, (R OH) announced that there was not enough support in the House of Representatives to consider his Plan B tax bill to extend the Bush era tax cuts for those making less than $1 million a year. Bush-era This latest twist has left analysts wondering w what comes next: is there any possible negotiated solution that would be acceptable in the House? Will we just go over the cliff? The only thing that appears certain right now is that lawmakers will return to Washington after Christmas to continue working on this, in hopes that some solution can be found before the end of the year. g In discussions over how to raise revenues as part of averting the cliff, one of the possible targets throughout the negotiations has been limiting or eliminating charitable deductions. Sam deductions. Worthington, president and CEO of InterAction, has released a statement emphasizing the resident importance of charitable tax deductions. He notes that while the charitable deduction does reduce government income, it does so in a way that actually triples its effectiveness: For every triples dollar that does not go to the U.S. government because of the charitable deduction, nearly $3 goes to a charity that helps the poor and the vulnerable. By continuing the deduction in its current form, the U.S. government gets a three t three-to-one investment in poverty-reduction. The entire reduction. statement can be found here. Last week, we mentioned that the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2012 (H.R. Transparency 3159), or Poe Bill, had hit several snags before it could be placed on the suspension calendar for the lame duck. On Wednesday, we learned that the bill has been cleared and placed on the House suspension calendar and would have been considered today if the House were still in endar session. We hope to see the bill brought to a vote next week. Member Changes On Monday, Sen. Dan Inouye (D (D-HI), 88, passed away. Inouye was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Pro Tempore Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) was sworn in as Tempore. VT) the Senate Pro Tempore on Tuesday. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) will become the next chair of re MD) Appropriations, which came as a surprise since she is the third most senior Democrat on the third-most Committee. At the beginning of the week, it was speculated that Leahy, who is next in line for chair of the full Appropriations Committee, would accept the position. Instead, he decided to keep chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Harkin (D-IA) also turned down the chairmanship ) of Appropriations to continue as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. Mikulski will become the first woman chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. As we announced two weeks ago, Sen. Ji DeMint (R-SC) announced that he is leaving Jim SC) Congress to become the president of the Heritage Foundation. Republican South Carolina Gov. 1

Nikki Haley officially announced on Monday that Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) will fill the vacant seat until the special election in November 2014. Scott will be the first African-American Republican senator from the South since Reconstruction, and only the fourth African-American Republican in Senate history. President Obama officially nominated Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for secretary of State this afternoon. Senate Republicans have repeatedly expressed their support for Kerrys nomination. If he is confirmed, this will leave open the position of the Foreign Relations Committee chairman. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) would likely receive the gavel in that case. This will also leave another open seat in the Senate. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has reportedly been in conversation with the late Sen. Edward Kennedys (D-MA) widow, Vicki Kennedy, to potentially fill the seat until a special election is held. Stay tuned .

UPCOMING HEARINGS There are no upcoming hearings this next week.

ARTICLES AND REPORTS AlertNet Dec. 19: Number of aid workers attacked hits record in 2011 Attacks on aid workers in 2011 have risen to a record 308, according to findings from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD). The figure is up from 245 in 2010 and includes victims who were killed, injured or kidnapped. BBC Dec. 18: Karachi polio killings: Vaccination workers shot Six polio health workers five of them women have been shot dead in Pakistan. The attacks occurred on Monday and Tuesday, leading the UN to suspend its polio vaccination program. The program was due to administer up to 5 million vaccines across the country. Dec. 18: Sudan's yellow fever outbreak 'worst for 20 years' The World Health Organization has warned that Sudan is facing one of the worst outbreaks of yellow fever in years. The disease has affected the Darfur region since October, killing 168 people. The WHO is stepping up its immunization program this month. The Guardian Dec. 19: Obama urges Rwandan president to stop support for M23 rebels in Congo President Obama has called on the Rwandan government to discontinue its ongoing support for M23 rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Rwandan government has consistently denied its involvement in the M23 group. New York Times Dec. 19: U.N. Halts Vaccine Work in Pakistan After 2 More Killings Two polio health workers were killed on Wednesday in Pakistan, adding to the five deaths on Tuesday. The UN has now suspended the entire polio-related vaccination program, withdrawing all staff from the streets.

Reuters Dec. 19: U.N. seeks $1.5 billion to address Syria crisis The United Nations on Wednesday launched an appeal for $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Syrians affected by the ongoing civil conflict. Funds will go toward emergency provisions within Syria and for the estimated 1 million refugees who have fled the country.

Disclaimer: Articles linked in the Update are intended to provide a dashboard view of newsworthy and topical issues from popular news outlets that will be of interest to readers of the Update. The articles are an information sharing vehicle rather than an advocacy tool. They are in no way representative of the views of InterAction or the U.S. NGO community as a whole.