mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i think it is very sad that we are debating this amendment . 
i think it is sad because we are squandering a rare opportunity for a real bipartisan achievement with the head start bill today . 
it is sad because we are debating whether to amend a program that came out of our country 's struggle for civil rights by restricting those very civil rights . 
and it is sad because we are debating whether to make religious discrimination a higher priority than finding the best qualified head start teacher for at-risk children . 
we are discussing supporting religious discrimination paid for with federal dollars . 
under current law , religious organizations can and do participate in head start , and they always have from the very beginning . 
they do a very good job . 
under current law , religious organizations can hire members of their own faith using only their own funds , and they have always been able to do that . 
and under current law , job applicants have the right to apply for a federally funded head start position without submitting to a religious test . 
we are not talking about forcing catholic churches to hire jewish priests . 
we are talking about whether if a religious organization chooses to accept federal funds for head start , it should be allowed to discriminate using those funds , which , by the way , is exactly what president bush called on congress to do earlier this year . 
the president said , `` we ought to judge faith-based groups by results , not by their religion. '' but , sadly , the boustany amendment is asking us to allow some head start programs to judge job applicants by their religion , not by their results . 
so i ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment and to oppose final passage if the bill includes this amendment . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
