Bobby Scott: “I just wanted to remind the House that faith-based organizations can and do sponsor federally funded Head Start…”

“I just wanted to remind the House that faith-based organizations can and do sponsor federally funded Head Start programs. Any sponsor who will agree not to discriminate in employment, if they can sponsor a program with the discrimination amendment, they can sponsor the program without that amendment if they would agree not to discriminate. What we are talking about is discrimination. Some people want to discriminate against Catholics, Jews, Muslims, African Americans. We had this discussion in the 1960s, and the consensus back then was that discrimination in employment was so offensive that we made it illegal. The victim needs to be protected and the weight of the Federal Government will fall down on the side of the victim. The vote was not unanimous. Some people did not like it then; they do not like it now. And we are discussing where should the weight of the government be, with the victim or with somebody trying to discriminate. This is Head Start. We should not give students of Head Start the idea that their parents were denied a federally funded job solely because of their religion. We have heard of the Supreme Court. All of the Supreme Court decisions have said it is okay for a church to discriminate in employment with church money. None have supported discrimination with direct Federal funding. We have heard of our forefathers in 1964. We know that since 1965 it has been illegal, at least until this administration, to discriminate with Federal money.…”