Lynn C. Woolsey: “Mr. Speaker, last November a Federal court said the Federal Government cannot take away a university's funding simply…”

“Mr. Speaker, last November a Federal court said the Federal Government cannot take away a university's funding simply because the school refuses to exempt the U.S. military from its policy, meaning the university's policy, and that on-campus recruiters not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Today we are debating a resolution in support of the Solomon amendment. If this House of Representatives votes to support that resolution, we will be putting the Congress on record as supporting absolute senseless discrimination. The resolution says it is about equal access for military recruiters at institutions of higher education. But, in reality, it is about allowing the military to avoid the consequences of discrimination, the same consequences that any other employer would have to face if it discriminated. Many say, and you heard it today, that our national security requires the military to engage in this discrimination, but the facts just do not support it. The court said that the Government failed to produce, and I quote, ``a shred of evidence'' that the Solomon amendment helps military recruiting, and even suggested that the hostility that the amendment causes may hurt recruiting.”