William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “I want to reiterate the importance of this issue to House majority conferees. For many years, organizations of faith…”

“I want to reiterate the importance of this issue to House majority conferees. For many years, organizations of faith have been able to both contract with the Federal Government and hire according to their faith practices. That has been especially true with religious universities, chaplain services, and refugee service providers; yet executive action under the current administration has created a direct conflict between the White House policy and these longstanding legal protections for these organizations' religious tenets. While the NDAA was always an imperfect vehicle for this discussion, majority conferees believe that these executive orders must be reviewed; and we look forward to working directly with the incoming administration to address the concerns, not just for DOD, but for the government nationwide. I certainly appreciate the leadership of the gentlewoman from Missouri on these very issues.”