Elijah Lewis: “Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7 is wrong for America. Allowing religious organizations to provide much-needed social services to…”

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7 is wrong for America. Allowing religious organizations to provide much-needed social services to disadvantaged people or people in need sounds like an innocent way to solve many of our problems. But the truth is that it allows these organizations to use Federal dollars, the taxpayers' dollars, to discriminate in their hiring. This is not right. It is not fair. It is not just. I have spent more than 40 years of my life fighting against discrimination. We have worked too long and too hard, and we cannot sit back and watch the work of so many people who sacrificed so much be undone by this bill. We have come too far in this country to go back now. The House should not support a bill that allows the Government to promote discrimination, or return to the days when religious intolerance was permitted. It is not the right thing to do. It is not the right way to go. It is not the way to use the Tax Code. Furthermore, this bill is an assault on the separation of church and State. This concept underlies our democracy. Yet H.R. 7 compels a citizen, through his tax dollars, to fund religious organizations. Tax dollars will go directly to churches, synagogues, and mosques. The wall between church and State must be solid. It must be strong.”