Dan Coats: “That is precisely what I was saying. I appreciate the Senator's experience and involvement with programs that are…”

“That is precisely what I was saying. I appreciate the Senator's experience and involvement with programs that are locally based and really make a difference in people's lives. What I was trying to say here is that we are faced with a situation where we have a statute on the books that appears to be unconstitutional. I think it goes against the grain of equal treatment under the law--something that is the foundation for what this country believes in. But I didn't want to misinterpret it as the attempt, this year, by the U.S. Senate or U.S. Congress in addressing problems that affect people that are called ``underprivileged'' or ``low-income'' or ``minorities'' or people who live in targeted urban areas. There are deeper problems. There are problems that have defied the Federal solution and have defied the legislative solution but have lent themselves to local solutions, often faith-based solutions, or nonprofit, charitable solutions that we can't write statutes for. Can we assist in the transition of moving the Government from a ``one-size-fits-all, let Washington solve the problem,'' to an aspect of greater involvement of these organizations in dealing with these problems? I think we can. What we are trying to do here is outline some steps that we believe we should take in order to accomplish that.”