Don't Inject Religious Discrimination into Head Start
Kucinich gave the following speech in Congress on September 22, 2005:
Speaking against the Boehner amendment to the School Readiness Act of 2005 (H.R. 2123), which would provide hiring protections for faith-based Head Start providers, Congressman Kucinich said:
"Mr. Chairman, injecting religious discrimination into Head Start is a nonstarter. It is a rollback of established civil rights laws. It is wrong. And I believe it sets the stage for unconstitutional activity. I ask my colleagues to withdraw that amendment and let this bill, which we do agree on, to go forward to serve the children of our Nation who are waiting for opportunities to ensure that no child in America is trapped within poverty's grasp, to enable every child in America to live up to his or her highest potential.
"Faith-based organizations, as we all know, are free to use their own money to make employment decisions using religious criteria for programs. There is no discrimination against faith-based organizations that run federally funded social services. If they want to hire people of only a certain faith, they can do that with their own money. But when it comes to the use of taxpayers' dollars, no citizen in this country with the protection of the first amendment should have to pass a religious test to qualify.
"Our Founders understood the importance of separation of church and State. I also believe they did not intend to have America exclude the celebration of spiritual values. It is important that we remember the Founders' directives to bring spiritual values of truth, honesty, love of country, but to never break down that wall which separates church and State. Preserve our Constitution."
[Ed. note: The Boehner amendment was agreed to by recorded vote: 220 - 196 (Roll No. 492). Shortly after, H.R. 2123 was agreed to by recorded vote: 231 - 184 (Roll No. 492).]
Subscribe to this blog's feed