mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. chairman , since the presidency of franklin roosevelt , our nation has moved inexorably toward the elimination of all forms of discrimination in government contracting and in the private sector . 
this bill rolls back that commitment that would enshrine the principle of religious discrimination in one of our most important job training programs at a time when many americans are losing their jobs and need the help these programs offer . 
members on the other sides of the aisle say that this would roll back the ability of churches and synagogues to discriminate on the basis of religion now . 
nonsense . 
they can discriminate . 
no one tells the catholic church they have to hire women priests . 
no one tells the catholic church or any other church or synagogue they have to hire a janitor of a different religion . 
nor would this amendment . 
what this says is that with federal funds , they can not discriminate . 
with their own funds they still can . 
president reagan , who signed the original version of this legislation 23 years ago , did not think it was necessary to allow employment discrimination with federal funds . 
no one should ever be told that they can not hold a job simply because they profess the wrong faith . 
and why is this necessary ? 
are religiously affiliated charities unable to participate in federally social services programs ? 
is there a single member of this house who has not held secure government funds for such programs ? 
for catholic charities ? 
the federation of protestant welfare agencies ? 
the jewish federation , and countless others ? 
we all get these funds . 
that is no secret . 
the only thing required of these organizations is that they play by the same rules as everyone else . 
they can not make professing religious faith a precondition of receiving social services paid for with the taxpayers ' dollars , and they can not discriminate in employment when those jobs are paid for with taxpayers ' dollars . 
we have all heard about the bad old days when signs hung in windows : `` no catholics need apply , '' `` no jews need apply . 
fill in one 's favorite denomination . 
that is wrong . 
people of every faith pay their taxes , and we have no right to deny them employment paid for by those taxes . 
it is wrong . 
it is unamerican . 
it is immoral . 
it is unnecessary , and it is unprecedented . 
these are the armies of compassion . 
religious discrimination with taxpayers ' dollars is not compassionate . 
i urge support for the amendment . 
