[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 12 (Friday, January 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
               CONSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DIVISION

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank the Department of 
Health and Human Services under this new administration for doing 
something that should have been done a long time ago.
  The agency is now opening a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division 
within its Office for Civil Rights. This new office will be devoted 
solely to treating people fairly, regardless of race, religion, or 
creed.
  It is part of a broader theme in America where people, lately, from 
all religions and walks of life have been persecuted for their views 
and for not conforming to the views of others. How is that in the name 
of tolerance?
  For example, I recently led an amicus brief on behalf of 144 
Representatives and Senators for a Supreme Court case involving 
pregnancy clinics in California who, under California law, are being 
forced to violate their own faith and effectively advertise for 
abortions, against their own will.
  This is wrong, and it is evidence of the religious persecution in 
America today, religion being one of the founding cornerstones that 
have formed this country by our Founders.
  This new DHS office is a positive sign for people of all faiths who 
are being bullied into adhering to a leftist agenda and are essentially 
being told their beliefs don't matter because they disagree with a 
conservative viewpoint.

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