Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, in solidarity with the National Head Start Association, the Children’s Defense Fund and countless other lifelong advocates of the Head Start program, it is with a heavy heart that I must oppose this final, amended version of the Head Start reauthorization on the floor today.
It did not have to be this way.
I sit on the Education and Workforce Committee, which reported a genuinely bipartisan Head Start bill to this House. It wasn’t perfect, and it did not reflect in every respect the Head Start reauthorization I would have written. For example, an amendment I offered to fully fund the program so that every eligible child could reap its benefits was defeated on a party line vote. Moreover, a second amendment I proposed to offset the significant costs faced by Head Start grantees working to comply with the Department of Health and Human Services’ transportation safety requirements so that program dollars weren’t diverted from serving kids was similarly not included.
But, unlike failed initiatives in the recent past, the committee reported bill did not walk down the misguided path of block granting the Head Start program. Additionally, it took very positive steps towards establishing high standards for teacher quality and strengthening accountability for underperforming programs. It even included an amendment I offered on a bipartisan basis with Representatives Platts and Biggert to provide grantees new flexibility to serve additional needy children when program slots became available.
That is why I am so disappointed to vote against this bill today. With the inclusion of the Boustany amendment, this bill for the first time seeks to legitimize publicly funded religious discrimination in the Head Start program. It takes money from taxpayers and then turns around and tells those same taxpayers they can be excluded from federally funded jobs in a Head Start center solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. In effect, it is a green light for religious bigotry.
It has no place in the Head Start program, and it is precisely the wrong message to be sending to our nation’s children. I will continue to support Head Start. But I must forcefully oppose this legislation.