It covers practices of the five agencies where the White House has set up centers or task forces to promote religion-based and community initiatives.

But some religious leaders said they had already put into place models that showed how the religion-based initiatives could work.

In 1999, he founded Exodus, and in 2003 got a grant through the federal program for religion-based initiatives.

The House has already passed a bill for Mr. Bush's religion-based initiative.

And they will note that President Bush's religion-based initiative allows churches to discriminate in hiring.

Mr. Bush's religion-based initiative has been caught up in controversy from the moment he announced it, early in his presidency.

But support for such financing declined from 75 percent in early 2001, when Mr. Bush rolled out his religion-based initiative.

In addition, anything the Supreme Court says about the boundary between church and state could affect the outlook for the Bush administration's religion-based initiative.

He also was associated with the president's early efforts to promote religion-based initiatives across the country.

The federal government sued because the amendments could impede Mr. Bush's religion-based initiative, which provides money to religious groups for social programs.