mr. chairman , i strongly supported this bill as it came out of the committee . 
i was proud of the product the committee passed out . 
i was pleased to join with many of my colleagues on the other side in offering amendments that were supported on a bipartisan basis that i think strengthen the head start program . 
i am very sorry that that bipartisan consensus may be shattered , and it will be shattered if we later adopt the boustany amendment because , make no mistake about it , the boustany amendment is , in fact , an attack on religious liberty in this country . 
it takes us down a very dangerous road of taxpayer-financed religious bigotry . 
it is important to understand what the boustany amendment does and does not do . 
this is not a debate about whether or not faith-based institutions play a valuable role . 
of course they do . 
we have seen it in response to hurricane katrina . 
we have seen it elsewhere . 
nor is it about whether faith-based head start programs should receive federal funds . 
they are receiving those today . 
the issue is very simple . 
the question is whether we should eliminate the protections in current law against discrimination based upon religion or whether we should preserve those protections . 
the boustany amendment would give a green light to religious discrimination . 
just imagine if you are a highly qualified early education teacher , who is applying for a head start program that is expanding to take care of children who are victims of hurricane katrina . 
you go down and they say , i am sorry , you are the wrong religion . 
only catholics need apply , only jews need apply , only baptists need apply . 
that is a terrible message to be sending to our children . 
and does it not violate someone 's religious liberty to take someone 's tax dollars , give them to an organization and then say to that person , you can not have a job with this organization ? 
in all of the hearings that we have held in our committee on this issue , no faith-based organization has ever come up and said , gee , we could do a better job of teaching children if only we were allowed to discriminate in hiring teachers . 
i must say , one of the puzzling things , they concede that you can not proselytize , yet they say you can discriminate . 
