José E. Serrano: “I would just make my last appeal to the gentleman. I think this may be an issue that people want to discuss; but it is…”

“I would just make my last appeal to the gentleman. I think this may be an issue that people want to discuss; but it is certainly, from everything we can gather, not intended to be part of this bill. Secondly, it leaves incredible questions open. As I said before, anyone seeking a grant under this bill, this bill has many areas where you can, in fact, seek funding to do medical research, to do all kind of research, to contract with the government; and this is so open that nowhere else I think in our government do we say that you must first sign a document committing yourself to something before you can even be involved in receiving Federal dollars. There are laws that cover behavior, yes, that is true, fair housing, discrimination and so on. But this one, my God, there are people who have not even looked at this issue. And to suggest that if they do not have it down in writing, they have a policy that they have to present this policy, they cannot engage in research or engage in building or something else, it is totally out of left field to me. I really think this is overreaching. This is too broad, and I was really hoping that the chairman would see it that way and oppose it for the time being. I hope we could reconsider it.”