mr. speaker , i want to thank my colleague from utah for yielding time , and mr. speaker , today we have an opportunity to act on behalf of the nearly 1 million disadvantaged children in the united states who participate in the head start early childhood education program every year . 
the bill before us , the school readiness act , was introduced by the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 , my friend and colleague , and approved unanimously by the committee on education and the workforce in may . 
for four decades , head start has provided comprehensive services to help prepare low-income preschool children for success in school and in life . 
unfortunately , head start children still enter school lagging behind their more affluent peers . 
if we do not address this readiness gap , head start children will continue to enter school without the level of preparedness that we know that they need . 
another problem we have witnessed is an alarming number of financial abuses in various head start programs , showing that taxpayer dollars are not always being used to serve disadvantaged children and their families . 
we must demand more in exchange for the money we are investing , and that is why the bill before us reforms and strengthens the head start program . 
to protect parents , children and taxpayers , the school readiness act subjects head start operators to an annual independent financial audit and requires them to file an annual financial disclosure statement that documents how federal head start funds were used . 
these protections are a direct response to the reports of chronic financial abuse that have surfaced in recent years . 
another important component of this bill is that it will create greater competition to ensure federal dollars are being spent wisely . 
the bill requires head start grantees that fail to meet program requirements to compete in order to continue receiving funds . 
this commonsense reform will fundamentally shift expectations in the head start program by demanding nothing less than the highest quality programs , and for the first time ever , programs that fail to meet expectations will face the possibility of losing federal funding . 
later today we will debate an important amendment offered by the gentleman from florida ( mr. mica ) xz4002730 , which has been a priority of mine , that will complement our efforts to introduce greater competition into the program . 
the amendment would help implement a reform initiative at the department of health and human services designed to address the internal weaknesses in the head start management structure and improve its overall effectiveness , and i would urge my colleagues to support it . 
lastly , i would like to note another critical issue we will consider today in the aftermath of hurricane katrina . 
faith-based organizations were among the first to reach out and lend a hand in service to those impacted by this disaster . 
it does not take a hurricane or another large-scale catastrophe to rally faith-based organizations to assist their fellow americans each and every day . 
they focus on issues from job training to child care and everything in between . 
president bush has called them the armies of compassion , and these armies are always on the front lines when our nation needs them most . 
too often , the federal government has ignored or impeded the efforts of faith-based organizations willing to lend a helping hand in providing critical services to the neediest in our communities . 
the boustany amendment will protect the rights of faith-based groups to fully participate in serving head start children without relinquishing their religious identities . 
the 1964 civil rights act made clear that when faith-based groups hire employees on a religious basis , it is an exercise of the group 's civil liberties . 
former president bill clinton signed four laws explicitly allowing faith-based groups to staff on a religious basis when they receive federal funds , and a 1987 supreme court decision unanimously upheld this right . 
this amendment deserves the support of all of our colleagues . 
i think the rule before us today is a fair rule that makes in order an array of democrat and republican amendments , and i would urge my colleagues to support it . 
