Douglas Alexander: “earlier this week the Washington Post reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was making plans to…”

“earlier this week the Washington Post reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was making plans to ``reimburse churches and other organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.'' I understand FEMA's good intentions here, but we need to be very careful. There may be extraordinary circumstances when FEMA may need to rent buildings that might happen to belong to a church or mosque or synagogue. And I understand that under both Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, there have been appropriate ways to provide charitable choice and to fund faith-based organizations. I support that. I am currently working with Senators on both sides of the aisle on our Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on legislation to help all of Katrina's 372,000 displaced schoolchildren, including some who are enrolled in private and even religious schools. But the kind of reimbursement described in the Washington Post article makes me want to waive three yellow flags and two red ones. One obvious concern is constitutional. The first amendment says that ``Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' Paying churches for work they choose to undertake as churches raises obvious questions. That is not my major concern.…”