Roy Blunt: “I will speak in a few minutes about the business before the Senate today, but first I wish to speak about what is…”

“I will speak in a few minutes about the business before the Senate today, but first I wish to speak about what is happening at the White House today. President Trump is expected to sign an Executive order to protect religious freedom. Many times during the last year, the President has talked about his commitment and our commitment as a nation to religious freedom, but I expect that today he will lay down, specifically, by Executive order the policy of this administration to protect and to vigorously promote religious liberty--not to vigorously promote religion but to vigorously promote religious liberty. Reports are that the President will tell the IRS that we can't challenge churches and what they say, as well as challenge their not- for-profit status, simply because of what that pastor or that rabbi or that imam believes in the place where they deliver their message and how they live out their faith. It also tells Federal agencies to stop forcing religious organizations to pay fines if they don't want to cover certain healthcare items that conflict with their faith views. In fact, just this week, Senator Strange and I sent a letter to the Attorney General after we saw that in the Fifth Circuit the Attorney General's office had said that they want 60 more days for all of these pending cases on this very matter.…”