mr. chairman , i yield myself 2 minutes . 
mr. chairman , we keep hearing that we are discriminating against religious organizations in terms of participation in government contracts . 
that is not true . 
the fact is that they can participate . 
when you talk about a barrier , say what the barrier is . 
the barrier is , there is a level playing field ; you can not discriminate . 
we have also heard a lot about the 1964 civil rights act . 
what has not been said is since 1965 there has been a specific prohibition against discrimination in federal contracts . 
you have not been able to discriminate in a job training program since 1965 . 
in fact , for defense contracts , you have not been able to discriminate since 1941 . 
we also heard , mr. chairman , about the hiring for planned parenthood , i believe , and what your position is on abortion or gun control or something . 
in the 1960s , mr. chairman , we passed civil rights laws to respond to our sorry history of bigotry , and we designated specific protected classes where you could not discriminate in employment , race , color , creed , national origin and sex ; and you can not discriminate against those protected classes . 
there is a difference between telling somebody they can not get a job because i do not like your position on gun control and we do not hire blacks or jews . 
race and religion are protected classes ; positions on gun control and abortion are not , and there is a difference . 
mr. chairman , i yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from texas ( mr. edwards ) xz4001180 . 
