Connecticut Counseling Association

"Charitable choice" legislation

After being approved by 107th Congress in various forms in the past, faith-based services legislation (also known as "charitable choice") finally received close scrutiny.  The House passed broad legislation expanding government funding to religious organizations in 2001.  This legislation-H.R. 7, the "Community Solutions Act"-would have:

·          explicitly allowed organizations to discriminate against employees and job applicants on the basis of their religion using taxpayer funds;

·          overridden state and local anti-discrimination laws with respect to sexual orientation and marital status;

·          allowed religious organizations to proselytize beneficiaries in voucher programs operated using federal funds; and

·          allowed cabinet secretaries to unilaterally convert federal programs into such voucher programs.

ACA joined several other organizations in opposing H.R. 7.

The Senate was much more restrained in its consideration of this issue.  The Senate Finance Committee approved a counterpart to H.R. 7 in July 2002.  However, instead of the wide-ranging legislation approved by the House, the Senate Finance Committee's legislation was limited to expanding the tax benefits of contributing to religious organizations, and did not delve into issues pertaining to public funding of religious organizations to provide social services.

 
Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), one of the Senators leading the charge on charitable choice, pushed to add a faith-based services amendment to homeland security legislation.  However, a unanimous consent agreement to allow consideration of his amendment was blocked by Senate Democrats who wanted language added to explicitly prohibit employment discrimination with public funds on the basis of religion, and to prevent proselytization with federal funds. 

 
Unable to move his charitable choice legislation through the 107th Congress, President Bush issued an Executive Order on December 12 that directs federal agencies to give equal treatment to social-service groups with religious affiliations.  Language in the order permits religious groups to discriminate in their hiring practices without running afoul of federal civil rights law.  The Bush Administration has stated that it interprets current law to allow religiously based discrimination on the part of faith-based organizations using public funds. 

ACA adamantly is opposed to religious discrimination in publicly funded social services.  We will continue to work with other organizations concerned about the implications of public funding of sectarian religious organizations providing health and social services.  This issue will undoubtedly resurface in the next Congress, and ACA plans to work with both House and Senate members willing to fight some of the more troubling aspects of faith-based proposals, including religiously based discrimination.