Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
As a new Member of this House, I was appalled that one of the first actions we took in the Committee on Education and the Workforce was to adopt a provision that strikes at the heart of religious liberty in this country. The underlying bill contains a provision that takes us down a very dangerous road in this country, a road of religious bigotry and intolerance; and even worse, it uses taxpayers' dollars to promote that intolerance.
What am I talking about? Under current law, if you receive Federal funds to run a job training program in this country, you are not allowed to discriminate in your hiring based on religion. I think that makes sense to all Americans. If you are receiving Federal dollars for a program you are running, you should not be able to say to a perspective job applicant, I am sorry, you are the wrong religion. But that is what this does.
Here is a chart that shows what current law is. This was a law that was language originally signed into law by President Reagan. It was most recently adopted again by this body in 1988 as part of the last reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. It has a prohibition of discrimination language, and it prohibits discrimination in employment based on religion, existing law.
But what this underlying bill does is it takes a big red X mark and crosses out ``religion.'' It is a green light in this country to allow organizations that receive Federal funds to say no, to give you the religion test.
Imagine if you were to open up your local newspaper and see a help wanted ad for a job training program, and it said Christians only need apply, Jews only need apply, or Muslims only need apply. In fact, it can say Baptists only, or Methodists only. We would be appalled. But even worse, we would be appalled if we saw that that ad in that newspaper was paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Imagine as an American citizen responding to an ad for a job with a job training program, and you are qualified and you go to the interview, and they say, Gee, you know, you are really qualified, in fact you provided job training services in the past, but, golly, you are just the wrong religion. You are not a Christian, or a Jew, or You are not a Muslim.
Or you could be the right religion, but they are allowed to interrogate you. They can ask you questions. How many times did you go to church? Or synagogue? What are your charitable contributions? Let's talk about your marriage and family life. They are allowed under this provision to probe into your personal life to determine whether you meet their ``religious test.'' And they can do it all with your taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Speaker, that is not the America I know. I do not think that is the America most Americans know. It strikes at the heart of our constitutional protections for liberty.
I would just say I think the full House deserves an opportunity to at least debate this, so that all 435 members have an opportunity to vote ``yes'' or ``no'' on whether they want to use taxpayer dollars to discriminate.