[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5954-S5955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ASHCROFT:
  S. 1113. A bill to amend title XXIV of the Revised Statutes, relating 
to civil rights, to prohibit discrimination against nongovernmental 
organizations and certain individuals on the basis of religion in the 
distribution of government funds to provide government assistance and 
the distribution of the assistance, to allow the organizations to 
accept the funds to provide the assistance to the individuals without 
impairing the religious character of the organizations or the religious 
freedom of the individuals, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs.


                charitable choice expansion act of 1999

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, America's best ideas for helping the 
poor have come from grassroots communities and private organizations of 
people who know and care about their neighbors. These groups see people 
and their life experiences, not theories or statistics. We have known 
for years that government solutions have failed miserably in moving 
people from dependency and despair to responsibility and independence. 
For years America's churches and charities have been leading the way in 
helping the poor achieve dignity and self-sufficiency. This is why I 
have been advocating that government should find ways to help these 
organizations unleash the cultural remedy our society so desperately 
needs.

  Therefore, it was with great interest that I heard about Vice 
President Gore's statements Monday in Atlanta expressing his support 
for Charitable Choice. The Vice President's interest in Charitable 
Choice is welcome news. Governor Bush is in the forefront of Charitable 
Choice solutions. Truly, where once there was contention and debate, 
there now is swelling bipartisan agreement on the promise of Charitable 
Choice.
  Congress has been in the forefront of encouraging the type of faith-
based solutions that the Vice President was promoting yesterday in 
Atlanta. The 1996 welfare reform law contains the Charitable Choice 
provision I authored, which encourages states to partner with faith-
based organizations to serve welfare recipients with federal dollars.
  Last fall, we expanded Charitable Choice to cover services provided 
under the Community Services Block Grant program, which provides funds 
to local agencies to alleviate poverty in their communities. And just 
last week, the Senate approved a juvenile justice bill containing 
Charitable Choice for services provided to at-risk juveniles, such as 
counseling for troubled youth.
  The Charitable Choice provision in the 1996 welfare reform law was 
one way to achieve the goal of inviting the greater participation of 
charitable and faith-based organizations in providing services to the 
poor. The provision allows charitable and faith-based organizations to 
compete for contracts and voucher programs on an equal basis with all 
other non-governmental providers when the state or local government 
chooses to use private sector providers for delivering welfare services 
to the poor under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 
program.
  In the past three years, we have begun to hear about how Charitable 
Choice is opening doors for the government and communities of faith to 
work together to help our nation's poor and needy gain hope and self-
sufficiency. For example, shortly after passage of the federal welfare 
law, Governor George Bush of Texas signed an executive order directing 
``all pertinent executive branch agencies to take all necessary steps 
to implement the `charitable choice' provision of the federal welfare 
law.'' Cookman United Methodist Church, a 100 member parish in 
Philadelphia, received a state contract to run its ``Transitional 
Journey Ministry,'' which provides life and job skills to welfare 
mothers and places them into jobs with benefits. In less than a year, 
the church placed 22 welfare recipients into jobs. Payne Memorial 
Outreach Center, an affiliate of a Baltimore church, has helped over 
450 welfare recipients find jobs under a state contract.
  In light of these success stories around the nation, more and more 
states and counties are beginning to see what a critical role the 
faith-based community can play in helping people move off of welfare. 
They are eager to put the Charitable Choice concept into action in 
their communities.
  We have always known that Charitable Choice is truly bipartisan in 
nature, and has the support of over 35 organizations that span a wide 
political and social spectrum. Members from both sides of the aisle 
here in the Senate have voted in support of this provision. And now, 
with the Vice President's support for Charitable Choice, I am 
reintroducing legislation that I introduced in the 105th Congress, the 
``Charitable Choice Expansion Act,'' which would expand the Charitable 
Choice concept across all federally funded social service programs.
  The substance of the Charitable Choice Expansion Act is virtually 
identical to that of the original Charitable Choice provision of the 
welfare reform law. The only real difference between the two provisions 
is that the new bill covers many more federal programs than the 
original provision.

[[Page S5955]]

  While the original Charitable Choice provision applies mainly to the 
new welfare reform block grant program, the Charitable Choice Expansion 
Act applies to all federal government programs in which the government 
is authorized to use nongovernmental organizations to provide federally 
funded services to beneficiaries. Some of the programs that would be 
covered under this legislation include housing, substance abuse 
prevention and treatment, seniors services, the Social Services Block 
Grant, abstinence education and child welfare services.
  With this recent expression of bipartisan support for Charitable 
Choice from the Vice President, now is the time for Congress to move 
quickly to pass the Charitable Choice Expansion Act, so that we can 
empower the organizations that are best equipped to instill hope and 
transform lives to expand their good work across the nation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1113

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE UNDER GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS 
                   BY RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.

       Title XXIV of the Revised Statutes is amended by inserting 
     after section 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1994) the following:

     ``SEC. 1994A. CHARITABLE CHOICE.

       ``(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the 
     `Charitable Choice Expansion Act of 1999'.
       ``(b) Purpose.--The purposes of this section are--
       ``(1) to prohibit discrimination against nongovernmental 
     organizations and certain individuals on the basis of 
     religion in the distribution of government funds to provide 
     government assistance and distribution of the assistance, 
     under government programs described in subsection (c); and
       ``(2) to allow the organizations to accept the funds to 
     provide the assistance to the individuals without impairing 
     the religious character of the organizations or the religious 
     freedom of the individuals.
       ``(c) Religious Organizations Included as Nongovernmental 
     Providers.--For any program carried out by the Federal 
     Government, or by a State or local government with Federal 
     funds, in which the Federal, State, or local government is 
     authorized to use nongovernmental organizations, through 
     contracts, grants, certificates, vouchers, or other forms of 
     disbursement, to provide assistance to beneficiaries under 
     the program, the government shall consider, in the same basis 
     as other nongovernmental organizations, religious 
     organizations to provide the assistance under the program, so 
     long as the program is implemented in a manner consistent 
     with the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the 
     Constitution. Neither the Federal Government nor a State or 
     local government receiving funds under such program shall 
     discriminate against an organization that provides assistance 
     under, or applies to provide assistance under, such program, 
     on the basis that the organization has a religious character.
       ``(d) Exclusions.--As used in subsection (c), the term 
     `program' does not include activities carried out under--
       ``(1) Federal programs providing education to children 
     eligible to attend elementary schools or secondary schools, 
     as defined in section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801) (except for activities 
     to assist students in obtaining the recognized equivalents of 
     secondary school diplomas);
       ``(2) the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et 
     seq.);
       ``(3) the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.); or
       ``(4) the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 
     1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.).
       ``(e) Religious Character and Independence.--
       ``(1) In general.--A religious organization that provides 
     assistance under a program described in subsection (c) shall 
     retain its independence from Federal, State, and local 
     governments, including such organization's control over the 
     definition, development, practice, and expression of its 
     religious beliefs.
       ``(2) Additional safeguards.--Neither the Federal 
     Government nor a State or local government shall require a 
     religious organization--
       ``(A) to alter its form of internal governance; or
       ``(B) to remove religious art, icons, scripture, or other 
     symbols;
     in order to be eligible to provide assistance under a program 
     described in subsection (c).
       ``(f) Employment Practices.--
       ``(1) Tenets and teachings.--A religious organization that 
     provides assistance under a program described in subsection 
     (c) may require that its employees providing assistance under 
     such program adhere to the religious tenets and teachings of 
     such organization, and such organization may require that 
     those employees adhere to rules forbidding the use of drugs 
     or alcohol.
       ``(2) Title vii exemption.--The exemption of a religious 
     organization provided under section 702 or 703(e)(2) of the 
     Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-1, 2000e-2(e)(2)) 
     regarding employment practices shall not be affected by the 
     religious organization's provision of assistance under, or 
     receipt of funds from, a program described in subsection (c).
       ``(g) Rights of Beneficiaries of Assistance.--
       ``(1) In general.--If an individual described in paragraph 
     (3) has an objection to the religious character of the 
     organization from which the individual receives, or would 
     receive, assistance funded under any program described in 
     subsection (c), the appropriate Federal, State, or local 
     governmental entity shall provide to such individual (if 
     otherwise eligible for such assistance) within a reasonable 
     period of time after the date of such objection, assistance 
     that--
       ``(A) is from an alternative organization that is 
     accessible to the individual; and
       ``(B) has a value that is not less than the value of the 
     assistance that the individual would have received from such 
     organization.
       ``(2) Notice.--The appropriate Federal, State, or local 
     governmental entity shall ensure that notice is provided to 
     individuals described in paragraph (3) of the rights of such 
     individuals under this section.
       ``(3) Individual described.--An individual described in 
     this paragraph is an individual who receives or applies for 
     assistance under a program described in subsection (c).
       ``(h) Nondiscrimination Against Beneficiaries.--
       ``(1) Grants and contracts.--A religious organization 
     providing assistance through a grant or contract under a 
     program described in subsection (c) shall not discriminate, 
     in carrying out the program, against an individual described 
     in subsection (g)(3) on the basis of religion, a religious 
     belief, a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a refusal to 
     actively participate in a religious practice.
       ``(2) Indirect forms of disbursement.--A religious 
     organization providing assistance through a voucher 
     certificate, or other form of indirect disbursement under a 
     program described in subsection (c) shall not deny an 
     individual described in subsection (g)(3) admission into such 
     program on the basis of religion, a religious belief, or a 
     refusal to hold a religious belief.
       ``(i) Fiscal Accountability.--
       ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), any 
     religious organization providing assistance under any program 
     described in subsection (c) shall be subject to the same 
     regulations as other nongovernmental organizations to account 
     in accord with generally accepted accounting principles for 
     the use of such funds provided under such program.
       ``(2) Limited audit.--Such organization shall segregate 
     government funds provided under such program into a separate 
     account. Only the government funds shall be subject to audit 
     by the government.
       ``(j) Compliance.--A party alleging that the rights of the 
     party under this section have been violated by a State or 
     local government may bring a civil action pursuant to section 
     1979 against the official or government agency that has 
     allegedly committed such violation. A party alleging that the 
     rights of the party under this section have been violated by 
     the Federal Government may bring a civil action for 
     appropriate relief in an appropriate Federal district court 
     against the official or government agency that has allegedly 
     committed such violation.
       ``(k) Limitations on Use of Funds for Certain Purposes.--No 
     funds provided through a grant or contract to a religious 
     organization to provide assistance under any program 
     described in subsection (c) shall be expended for sectarian 
     worship, instruction, or proselytization.
       ``(l) Effect on State and Local Funds.--If a State or local 
     government contributes State or local funds to carry out a 
     program described in subsection (c), the State or local 
     government may segregate the State or local funds from the 
     Federal funds provided to carry out the program or may 
     commingle the State or local funds with the Federal funds. If 
     the State or local government commingles the State or local 
     funds, the provisions of this section shall apply to the 
     commingled funds in the same manner, and to the same extent, 
     as the provisions apply to the Federal funds.
       ``(m) Treatment of Intermediate Contractors.--If a 
     nongovernmental organization (referred to in this subsection 
     as an `intermediate organization'), acting under a contract 
     or other agreement with the Federal Government or a State or 
     local government, is given the authority under the contract 
     or agreement to select non-governmental organizations to 
     provide assistance under the programs described in subsection 
     (c), the intermediate organization shall have the same duties 
     under this section as the government but shall retain all 
     other rights of a nongovernmental organization under this 
     section.''.
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