Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Louisiana. This amendment betrays our core values by permitting, for the first time in the history of the Head Start program, religious discrimination in hiring. It allows taxpayer funds to be used in Head Start programs that discriminate against teachers and parent volunteers solely because of their religious beliefs. The bill does so by eliminating existing law that has, since Head Start's beginning, protected the people who teach our children against this most reprehensible form of discrimination.

Religious discrimination in employment or the imposition of religious tests for federally funded employment in violation of the Constitution is reprehensible and an affront to our first freedom. Nobody should be able to hang out a sign that says no Catholics or Jews, no Protestants, no Lutherans, no whoever may apply for this federally funded job.

Every religious denomination in this country can run a Head Start program and has. Every religious denomination can run programs and has. No one says they cannot discriminate in who the minister is or they do not want women as ministers or, for that matter, as janitors, but not with those positions funded by the Federal Government.

That is what this amendment would breach. That is what is obnoxious. That is why it should be defeated.

We have heard terrible allegations from the other side of the aisle, and from the administration alleging, during the recent confirmation hearings for Judge Roberts, that certain members of the Other Body have hung a sign on the Federal courts saying ``No Catholics Need Apply.'' While I continue to believe that this slur against conscientious Catholic members of the Other Body is blatantly false and slanderous, those making the charge, including the President and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, seem to understand that religious discrimination in employment, or the imposition of a religious test for federally funded employment in violation of the Constitution, is reprehensible and an affront to our First Freedom.

I only wish they would apply that same principle to the people who teach our children.

Head Start is an exceptional program that serves nearly one million children and their families. We know from experience that it works and works well, helping our children succeed educationally. Instead of promoting religious discrimination, we should be standing up for families and for our most vulnerable children by providing the necessary resources and accountability, to ensure that all children who qualify for the Head Start program can participate and succeed.

It is time to match the rhetoric with action and leave no child behind. It is time to make good on the promise of this Nation that we are all created equal, that all children are entitled to a decent education, and that no one should ever have to decide between a job helping our children and their religious faith. No child was ever helped by governmentally funded and endorsed religious discrimination. That is not what this country is about, and it is not befitting of a nation dedicated to liberty and justice for all.

I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment, to stand up for our values of religious equality.