[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 105 (Thursday, July 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S9421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT LEGISLATION

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to 
thank Senator Coats, the Chairman of the Labor Committee's Subcommittee 
on Children and Families, for the excellent work he has done in 
drafting legislation to reauthorize the Community Services Block Grant, 
which recently passed in the Senate. The CSBG program is intended to 
fight poverty and alleviate its effects on people and their 
communities. Through these block grants, federal money is given to the 
states and local communities to create programs that help low-income 
people secure employment, get an adequate education, make better use of 
their available income, obtain and maintain adequate housing, and 
ultimately achieve self-sufficiency.
  These block grants free states and local communities of federal red 
tape and give them the flexibility they desire to initiate programs 
that meet the needs of people who need help. As a former governor, I 
learned that state and local governments are far more effective in 
serving local communities than Washington's bureaucracy.
  Further, Community Services Block Grants provide opportunities for 
the government to partner with the non-governmental sector to provide a 
variety of services to the poor. I am grateful that Senator Coats has 
led a bipartisan effort to include within this reauthorization bill 
language that can expand the opportunities for charitable and faith-
based organizations to serve their communities with CSBG funds. The 
provisions included will help faith-based organizations to maintain 
their religious character and integrity when providing social services 
with government funds.
  For years, America's charities and churches have been transforming 
shattered lives by addressing the deeper needs of people--by instilling 
hope and values which help change behavior and attitudes. As a matter 
of sound public policy, we in Congress need to find ways to allow these 
successful organizations to unleash the cultural remedy that our 
society so desperately needs. Senator Coats' legislation reauthorizing 
the Community Services Block Grant will help to further this goal.
  The language in this bill regarding charitable and faith-based 
providers is similar to my Charitable Choice provision contained in the 
welfare reform law which we passed two years ago, but it does contain 
some differences. For non-governmental organizations wishing to 
participate in both the Community Service Block Grant and the Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families programs, the differences between the two 
provisions may cause some confusion and lead to additional 
administrative burdens.
  This situation demonstrates the need to pass legislation that applies 
the same Charitable Choice language to all federally funded social 
service programs in which the government is authorized to use 
nongovernmental organizations to provide services to beneficiaries. 
Under my Charitable Choice Expansion Act, which I introduced in May of 
this year, uniform protections and guidelines would apply to faith-
based entities using federal dollars to provide housing, substance 
abuse prevention and treatment, juvenile services, seniors services, 
abstinence education, and child welfare services, as well as services 
under the Community Development Block Grant, the Social Services Block 
Grant, and of course, the Community Services Block Grant. One uniform 
Charitable Choice provision will certainly make it easier for both the 
government and faith-based organizations to work together more 
efficiently to help our nation's needy.
  Again, I thank Senator Coats and all the members of the Labor 
Committee, as well as their staff, for their hard work on this 
legislation, and I commend them for their decision to include 
provisions that invite the greater participation of charitable and 
faith-based providers in the Community Services Block Grant program. I 
hope that we in the Senate will continue working together to pursue 
legislative proposals that encourage successful non-governmental 
organizations to expand their life-transforming programs to serve our 
nation's poor and needy.

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