Jon L. Christensen: “I must join my colleagues who have spoken in opposition to H.R. 7. Never can I or will I ever support a piece of…”

“I must join my colleagues who have spoken in opposition to H.R. 7. Never can I or will I ever support a piece of legislation which would allow and therefore support discrimination in any way shape or form. I am proud to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus which does not oppose, but strongly supports, making funding available to support our religious organization's work in the world, but voted unanimously to oppose the egregious parts of the bill which allow the provisions of the hard fought for civil rights laws to be sidestepped. As an African-American and a Christian, I must also say that I am insulted and deeply resent the way the administration has specifically courted the Black Church with this initiative because H.R. 7 falsely advertises the initiative as new, and also as funded, and it most agregiously, allows discrimination. In addition to these concerns, I am also very troubled by the fact that H.R. 7 contains a provision that allows any federal agency to convert their entire services programs into a voucher in order to circumvent protections against discrimination that are provided for under federal law.”