John Cornyn: “I want to express my gratitude to the Senator from Missouri for his leadership on this issue. This used to be a topic…”

“I want to express my gratitude to the Senator from Missouri for his leadership on this issue. This used to be a topic that was a bipartisan issue dating back to the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. But just so people can refresh their memories, there have been a number of allusions made to the language of the Constitution. But let me just read the first amendment to the Constitution, part of our Bill of Rights, the fundamental law of the land that cannot be abridged or changed by a mere act of Congress, which is what we are concerned about; that the President's health care bill, the Affordable Care Act, so-called, purports to change the Constitution, which it cannot do. When there is a conflict between the Constitution and a law passed by Congress, that law falls as unconstitutional. But the first amendment to the Constitution says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . Let me repeat that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . That is what we are talking about is the free exercise of religion.…”