i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. chairman , i rise in strong support of his amendment , and i find it just incredible that all of a sudden discrimination becomes the core of religious organizations , for those of us who have spent almost 40 years working with faith-based organizations in our communities involved in all kinds of public service endeavors , all kinds of delivery of services to people in need , to help members of our community in almost everything , from education to child care to job training to substance abuse to a whole range of activities that are absolutely essential to binding our community together . 
nobody said that discrimination was a fundamental part of this operation all through the sixties and seventies , the eighties or the nineties . 
none of these organizations ever said they were unable to deliver these services , unwilling to deliver these services , unwilling to help these people whom they have chosen to extend the services of their organization to ; when they took federal money said they could not do this because they needed to discriminate . 
but all of a sudden now the suggestion is that the basic tenet is that you must be able to discriminate . 
you must be able to discriminate or you will not deliver these services . 
what does it also say about the use of the taxpayers ' dollars ? 
if the best person to provide the substance abuse counseling , if the best person to provide the child development , if the best person to provide the job training is not of the same religion , is the taxpayer getting a fair shake when they hire somebody else that does not have those qualifications ? 
should we not be looking for the best person to provide these services ? 
you can not maintain your religious character , you can not maintain the religious character of your organization unless you can discriminate in hiring ? 
organizations , again , have never suggested that they have been diminished because they ran a child development center . 
they have never said they have been diminished because they ran an afterschool program because they could not discriminate . 
what is this liberty to discriminate against somebody else using federal dollars ? 
this is absolutely unacceptable . 
