[2-26-05]

Washington Office suggests urging House to restore civil rights protections in the Job Training Improvement Act

The proposed job training bill would allow religious discrimination by religious organizations receiving federal funding. The Washington Office has joined many other religious groups in calling for the restoration of civil rights protections to the bill.

Send an e-mail to your Member of the House, and urge a vote for the Scott Amendment to H.R. 27

The letter to Congress:

February 23, 2005

Support Scott Amendment to H.R. 27 to restore civil rights protections

Vote "NO" on final passage unless Civil Rights Amendment is adopted

Dear Representative:

We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, labor, education, health and advocacy organizations are writing to urge you to support Scott amendment to restore critical civil rights protections to the Job Training Improvement Act (H.R. 27), in order to protect workers against religious discrimination in federally-funded job training programs. Since their inception in 1982, these job-training programs have included important civil rights protections against employment discrimination based on religion in programs that receive federal funds. Absent the adoption of a civil rights amendment on the House floor, we urge you to vote "No" on final passage of H.R. 27.

The 1998 Workforce Investment Act consolidated these earlier job-training programs and simply re-codified the nondiscrimination provision included in the original Job Training Partnership Act of 1982. The 1998 legislation, which included this nondiscrimination provision, received strong bipartisan support from both the House and Senate at the time of its passage in the 105th Congress. Since its inclusion in the 1982 JTPA, it has enjoyed bipartisan support. The original Job Training Partnership Act was sponsored by then Senator Dan Quayle, and was reported out of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee then chaired by Senator Orrin Hatch. Finally, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Job Training Partnership Act, which contains the very same civil rights provision that H.R. 27 now seeks to repeal as it applies to religious organizations. This twenty-three year old provision has worked well since the inception of this program, allowing religious organizations to provide government-funded services while maintaining America's bedrock commitment to protecting both civil rights and religious liberty.

We strongly urge you to support the Scott civil rights amendment to H.R. 27 to restore current civil rights law and to oppose the unjustified and unnecessary assault in H.R. 27 on our nation's commitment to eradicating employment discrimination in government-funded jobs.

Sincerely,

American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American Counseling Association
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
American Federation Teachers
American Humanist Association
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
Americans for Religious Liberty
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Episcopal Church, USA
Equal Partners in Faith
General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America
Human Rights Campaign
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense)
NAACP
National Association of Social Workers
National Education Association
National Council of Jewish Women
National PTA
OMB Watch
People for the American Way
Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office
Service Employees International Union SEIU, AFL-CIO
Texas Faith Network
Texas Freedom Network
The Interfaith Alliance
The Secular Coalition for America
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries
Women of Reform Judaism

from Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory

Published by the Stewardship of Public Life (SPL) advocacy program of the Washington Office, Presbyterian Church (USA), 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, (202) 543-1126, www.pcusa.org/washington

Americans United has issued a similar call:

Support the Scott Amendment to Restore Critical Civil Rights Protections to H.R. 27.

Don't Allow Federally-Funded Employment Discrimination
in the Jobs-Training Bill!

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on H.R. 27, "The Job Training Improvement Act" next week. This is the first vote on the faith-based initiative and a crucial vote for the 109th congress. Since their inception in 1982, these job-training programs have included important civil rights protections against employment discrimination based on religion in programs that receive federal funds. The pending legislation would place existing civil rights law on the chopping block. It would allow faith based organizations to discriminate in hiring based on religion in government-funded jobs.

An amendment to reinstate civil rights protections may be offered on the floor by Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA). This civil rights amendment should be supported and if the protections are not reinstated, this bill should be defeated.

Taxpayer dollars should not be used to discriminate against employees because of their religion or religious beliefs. Tell your representative that you don't want taxpayers to subsidize religious discrimination in publicly-funded job training programs.

Take Action Now!

Please CALL, FAX, or EMAIL your Representative and urge them to OPPOSE DISCRIMINATION IN THE JOB TRAINING IMPROVEMENT ACT, H.R. 27.

You can call the capitol switchboard toll-free at 1-877-762-8762. Once you've been connected with your representative's office let the person who answers the phone know that you're a constituent and say,

"As your constituent, I urge you to support the Scott amendment to the Jobs Training Improvement Act/H.R. 27 that would restore civil rights protections. If an amendment like this fails, I urge you to oppose the Job Training Improvement Act/H.R. 27 because it is an unjustified assault on civil rights protections in federally funded job training programs."

Thank you for your activism!