mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from utah ( mr. bishop ) xz4000291 for yielding me the customary 30 minutes . 
mr. speaker , here we go again . 
the 109th congress convened 2 months ago . 
the committee on rules has reported eight rules , including the one we are considering today . 
none of these rules , not a single one , has been open . 
the republican majority is zero for eight on open rules . 
it is an abysmal record and just continues to prove how out of touch with america , and with the democratic process , this leadership really is . 
i oppose this rule and i oppose this bill . 
the republican leadership seems to think that the job picture in this country is rosy , but they could not be more wrong . 
they seem to think jobs are popping out of the woodwork , but it is clear our workers need job training assistance in order to compete in the 21st century workplace . 
when we think that the republican leadership can not be any more out of touch with the challenges facing working americans , they bring the job training improvement act of 2005 to the floor today . 
let us look at the facts . 
every day over 85 , 000 people in this country lose their jobs . 
under this administration 's watch , the nation has lost 2.8 million jobs , and 4.3 million formerly middle class americans have been pushed into poverty . 
president bush 's failed economic policies have produced a 5.2 percent unemployment rate . 
let us be clear . 
this slightly lower unemployment rate does not signal a rebounding labor market . 
in addition to the 8 million americans who are currently unemployed , there are 5 million unemployed workers who want to work but have given up looking for jobs simply because there are no jobs out there for them . 
beyond that , there are 4.5 million people who have accepted low-wage , part-time work simply because they can not find full-time employment in this weak economy . 
the real unemployment rate would skyrocket to 9.3 percent by merely including these workers . 
and not only are millions of american workers looking for jobs , but the long-term unemployment rate , workers who have been jobless for 6 months or more , is the highest in more than 20 years . 
despite these startling statistics , this administration has continued to resist efforts to extend unemployment benefits for the 3.5 million workers who have exhausted their coverage . 
the republicans have mismanaged this economy , and american workers are paying the price through lower pay , reduced benefits , and in too many cases job loss . 
as if this were not enough , the republican leadership is trying to enact broad , sweeping changes to the workforce investment act . 
this bill will do nothing to create new jobs , reduce the number of unemployed people in this country , or sufficiently training workers for jobs . 
frankly , this bill is a slap in the face to american workers . 
contrary to what we will hear from the republican leadership , the job training improvement act will actually make it harder for the unemployed to obtain employment and reemployment training . 
specifically , h.r. 27 would eliminate the employment services system , a program which provides critical job assistance to those unemployed workers hardest hit with the job loss of recent years . 
in my home state of massachusetts , this program provides services to nearly 165 , 000 jobseekers each year , and it has successfully helped 75 percent of them retain employment in less than 6 months . 
in addition , this bill block grants adult and dislocated worker funding streams . 
it allows states to use funds from the disability and veteran employment and adult learning programs to fund expenses at the workforce investment act 's centers . 
the result of this provision will be more bureaucracy and less training for the disabled and veterans . 
given all of the rhetoric that we hear about supporting our troops and providing for our veterans , we should find this provision particularly disturbing . 
we should be doing everything we can to help veterans find employment instead of slashing the disability and veteran employment and adult learning programs . 
additionally , the bill eliminates existing protections and safeguards against low quality and potentially fraudulent job training providers and permits states to allow these providers to receive federal funding . 
it caps at 30 percent the use of funds for services targeting low-income youth , those considered most likely to drop out of school . 
if that were not bad enough , this bill also abandons a core principle of our constitution by repealing civil rights protections written into current law . 
twenty-one years ago , then-senator dan quayle sponsored legislation that provided civil rights protections against religious-based employment discrimination in programs that receive federal funding . 
these protections were extended to secular as well as religious organizations . 
president reagan signed that bill into law . 
it is not every day that i praise dan quayle , but the nondiscrimination provision he offered is good policy which has served us well . 
this provision received strong bipartisan support when the workforce reinvestment act was reauthorized in 1998 . 
however , the job training investment act shreds these protections by allowing religious organizations to receive federal funding for job-training activities and social services while also employing religious-based discriminatory practices . 
in other words , this bill would allow a religious organization that discriminates based on religion , like a bob jones university , to get taxpayer money and use that federal funding to legally discriminate on religious grounds when hiring staff to carry out the job training programs and services in this bill . 
but let me be clear , the right of churches , synagogues , mosques and other religious organizations to remain free from government intervention has long been protected under the law , and i am sure my colleagues join me in support of this protection . 
congress has always exempted faith-based organizations from antidiscrimination provisions in programs funded by their own money , and we are not proposing that a church or synagogue or mosque be forbidden from using religious criteria in deciding who to hire as a minister or rabbi or imam . 
however , that same church , synagogue or mosque should not be permitted to apply for and receive federal funding for job training and then , as written in this bill , be exempted from federal civil rights protections . 
faith-based institutions should be required , like all other recipients of federal funds , to adhere to basic civil rights laws , and i can not even begin to count the number of institutions that have contacted my office in the last few days asking to be held to those same standards . 
last night in the committee on rules , i heard my colleagues , the gentleman from virginia ( mr. scott ) xz4003641 and the gentleman from florida ( mr. hastings ) xz4001701 talk about a return to discrimination practices that forced these men and millions of other african americans to drink from separate drinking fountains and eat at separate lunch counters from white americans . 
how can anyone justify abandoning one of our nation 's most fundamental principles ? 
how can members believe this is the right position for congress to advocate ? 
how can members believe this provision is moral ? 
i certainly can not find it in myself to do so . 
this provision is offensive , it is ugly , it is wrong , it is unacceptable . 
but beyond that , mr. speaker , i believe it is unconstitutional and unamerican . 
the gentleman from virginia ( mr. scott ) xz4003641 will offer an amendment to strike this offensive provision from the bill . 
i hope that my colleagues will join me in voting for the scott amendment . 
it is important that we oppose discrimination at every turn , and this is an important vote . 
mr. speaker , many democrats offered several high-quality amendments in the committee on rules yesterday . 
unfortunately , the majority has continued to stifle the democratic process by denying common sense amendments to this bill . 
just because the republican leadership allowed the scott amendment to be considered on the floor today does not make this a good rule . 
once again , let me remind my colleagues and the american people watching at home that the republicans have not reported one single open rule this year . 
mr. speaker , this is an unfair rule , poor policy-making and a bad bill . 
it is truly a tragedy when a nation that prides itself on democracy and equality considers and will most likely pass a bill that would permit employment discrimination in federally-funded programs . 
it is a slippery slope from here on out , and i fear this may just be the beginning . 
i urge this house to defeat the rule and vote against the bill . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
