Iowa Just Made a Big Move - 8/19/26

Catholics in Iowa create a statewide scholarship program. Is your state next? Remember the one big beautiful bill that President Trump and congressional Republicans passed last year? Well, there's a provision in that bill that's very important, but many Catholics haven't paid enough attention to it. It's a new federal education tax credit program, and it goes into effect on January 1st, 2027. Every federal taxpayer can contribute to a scholarship-granting organization and receive a tax credit up to $1,700.

...or $3,400 for a couple. This is a tax credit that reduces the amount of federal taxes you pay by $1,700. That money, in turn, can provide aid for tuition or tutoring for students in public, private, and yes, Catholic schools. Even better, money goes from the donor to the scholarship-granting organization to help families. The government never touches that money. States have to opt into this program for students to receive the aid. So far, more than 25 states have said yes, including Iowa.

Iowa's four Catholic dioceses have joined together to form the Iowa Catholic Scholarship Granting Organization to serve the more than 26,000 students in Iowa's Catholic schools. Meanwhile, over at The Loop, a radical LGBT group is spending $15 million to focus on transgender issues in the upcoming midterm elections. Yeah, I think that might backfire. Today is the Feast of St. John Eudes. A French Catholic priest Who founded several seminaries because he saw the need for clerical formation. He was also a great confessor, preacher, and devotee of the sacred heart of Jesus.

I'm Josh Mercer, editor of The Loop, taking you behind the headlines. Go to zeal.co for the rest of today's loop, and while you're at it, subscribe to get The Loop in your inbox every morning. Again, that's zeal.co.