A prominent charity watchdog says the chairman of the Senate’s Finance Committee is ignoring a key part of his job if he fails to vigorously crack down on charitable abuses.

Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who took over the reins of the Senate Finance Committee in January, told The Chronicle in an interview that he has more pressing issues on his agenda than pushing for new legislation aimed at curbing wrongdoing by nonprofit groups.

Mr. Baucus’s predecessor as Finance Committee Chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, is known for his aggressive efforts to patrol nonprofit organizations.

But Mr. Baucus says he has other priorities.

“Senator Grassley and I work very closely together,” he said in the Chronicle interview. “It’s a relationship that we both treasure and we agree far more than we don’t on policy. But I also have to look at the calendar.”

That statement might sound good to many nonprofit leaders, but it has Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, wondering whether it will send a signal to charities that the federal government is letting its guard down.

“If he doesn’t have time for this, he either has no desire to do his job, thinks there are no abuses in the charitable sector, or thinks the abuses are irrelevant to his constituents,” Mr. Stamp writes on his blog. “All of these options make me wish I was still on vacation.”

Should the Senate Finance Committee continue the aggressive efforts against charity abuse led by Mr. Grassley? Or should it be focusing on other priorities? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.