mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman from delaware ( chairman castle ) , who worked so diligently with the gentlewoman from california ( ms. woolsey ) xz4004360 , ranking member , and the subcommittee members to create a bipartisan bill . 
this is the spirit in which i believe congress ought to work and find compromises and avoid extremes . 
but , regrettably , i am going to have to oppose the boustany amendment to strike the language which prohibits religious discrimination in hiring . 
this issue was vigorously debated in our subcommittee and committee and was not included in the bill . 
when our taxes are used to hire people , should the decision be based on whether that person is a baptist , a roman catholic , a mormon , a muslim , a hindu , or a jew ? 
supreme court decisions have clearly stated that religious institutions have a legitimate interest in choosing employees by their religion . 
but these cases are about jobs that are privately funded . 
head start , as we know , is publicly funded . 
employers in government-funded programs should not be able to do what government employers may not do . 
religious education programs run by a mosque , a church , or synagogue are pervasively religious , and discrimination in hiring is appropriate to carry out the religious content . 
but a program in the same building which is a contract for a head start program is not about religion , and discrimination in hiring for jobs paid with federal tax dollars is wrong . 
one of the strengths of head start has been encouraging parents to volunteer ; and tens of thousands of parents , as we know , have gone on to develop skills to become a paid aide or teacher . 
one of my colleagues mentioned that he is very supportive of the bill , which helps and supports military families , and i fully agree with that . 
but then imagine that a child whose parent is fired from working at her school because their religion is different from the contractor 's , perhaps a military family is fired because they are roman catholic , not baptist , muslim , or a methodist . 
what would that teach these children about our country 's commitment to freedom , the very freedom that their parents fight for ? 
that religious discrimination is okay . 
that i can not support , mr. chairman , and i hope members will oppose that kind of discrimination . 
