mr. speaker , as the father of two young sons , i am a strong supporter of the head start program because i want every child in america to have a chance to reach his or her highest god-given potential . 
as a person of faith , i believe in the important role of faith-based organizations in addressing society 's needs , including the education needs of children . 
but also as a person of faith , someone who has revered my religious freedom under the constitution , i am deeply disappointed and offended that the republican leadership of this house has allowed an amendment on the floor today that would deny potentially hundreds of thousands of american citizens a government-funded job simply because of their religious faith . 
how ironic and disappointing it is that just at the very same time that we are preaching to the iraqis that they should adopt a constitution that protects religious freedom , the republican leadership of this house is willing to deny that freedom , that religious freedom to american citizens . 
i wonder how the gentleman from utah ( mr. bishop ) xz4000291 , who is the floor manager on the republican side of this rule , would feel , mr. speaker , if right now i asked him to answer my 20-point religious test . 
i hope he would be offended that i would ask him 20 specific questions about his personal religious faith . 
yet that gentleman and others who support this rule and the boustany amendment would allow faith-based groups , using tax dollars to give every individual applying for a job to teach children how to have a better life in the world , allow them to give a personal detailed religious test . 
and then they can say , you know what , even though you have a ph.d . 
in education and 30 years of experience in helping young children get a better education , we are going to deny you , mr. jones xz4002092 or mrs. smith , this federally funded head start job because you did not pass our personal religious test . 
no american citizen should have to choose between his or her religious faith and a job , a job paid for by american taxpayers . 
what is wrong with this , the boustany amendment , is that it would allow religious discrimination , period . 
call it what you want , it would allow religious discrimination . 
number two , it is worse than that . 
it actually uses taxpayers ' money to subsidize religious discrimination and bigotry . 
next , i think it is inconsistent with article vi of the constitution . 
we have heard a lot of debate about strict construction of the constitution . 
article vi , the only reference to religion in the original constitution before the amendments were passed , said basically that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the united states . 
the spirit of that article is that you should not have to pass a religious test to get a publicly funded taxpayer-paid-for job . 
talk about strict interpretation of the constitution . 
if having to choose between my religious faith and getting a head start tax-funded job is not restricting my religious freedom , then what is ? 
let me tell you what could happen under the boustany amendment , which the gentleman from ohio ( mr. boehner ) xz4000360 said he supported , because it is pretty ugly . 
i could get a federal million dollar taxpayer job grant and put out a sign that says `` no jews or catholics need apply here to this federally funded job. '' another group might put out a sign that says `` no baptists or methodists need apply here for a federally funded job. '' another group might put out a sign that says `` no mormons need apply here for a federally funded job. '' despite the fact they are qualified to help children have a better life , have a ph.d . 
in early childhood education or even special education , simply because of their religious faith they are denied the right to have that job to help children . 
that is morally wrong . 
shame on the republican leadership for endorsing and subsidizing religious discrimination . 
