Bobby Scott: “a few weeks ago, Don Imus provoked a national discussion about race, but that was just talk. If we pass this motion, we…”

“a few weeks ago, Don Imus provoked a national discussion about race, but that was just talk. If we pass this motion, we will take action and turn the clock back before 1965. This amendment doesn't allow faith-based programs to get funded. The Shuler amendment that we passed reminds us that faith-based organizations can and do sponsor Head Start programs. The fact is that any program that can be funded under this amendment could be funded anyway if they would agree not to discriminate in employment. It has nothing to do with symbols. It is absurd to suggest that this has anything to do with symbols. Whatever problem there is with symbols is a constitutional problem that cannot be solved with a motion to recommit. This is all about discrimination. And if you can discriminate based on religion, it has racial implications. So since the 1960s, for 40 years, when you talk about civil liberties, you are talking about the victims of discrimination. We decided 40 years ago that it was so reprehensible to discriminate in employment that we made it illegal, even with your own private money. And today, as we talk about discrimination, we ought to think about the victims, not the right of the person to discriminate against the victim. The present law allows the church to use its own church money, as the gentleman from Missouri said, to hire whom they want. But with Federal money, just with the Federal money, you have not been able to discriminate.”