Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2123, School Readiness Act of 2005

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2123, SCHOOL READINESS ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2005)

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Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my sincere disappointment in the Committee on Rules decision to report a restrictive rule for consideration of the bill before us today, the reauthorization of Head Start, the future of our children.

Several commonsense amendments were not ruled in order. Not surprising, most of them were Democratic amendments. Instead, several amendments that were ruled in order will weaken Head Start and the opportunity for our children.

In the committee, there was support of adding the language ``faith-based'' into the bill, even though faith-based institutions currently participate in providing Head Start programs. We were happy to do this in committee; I was also, along with my colleagues, because the Equal Opportunity Employment Act is also spelled out clearly in the bill, which does not allow for discrimination in hiring.

But there was another amendment that was not ruled in order, my amendment, an amendment which would have protected the privacy of our faith-based organizations and the integrity of our tax dollars. The amendment that I offered in the Committee on Rules would have simply required faith-based organizations to create a separate bank account, a separate bank account in which to receive Federal dollars for the Head Start program, a distinct and separate bank account from the private dollars that a religious organization collects to put forward their religious mission.

Why do we need to do that? Well, first, we need to protect Federal tax dollars from being used improperly; and, secondly, we need to protect the privacy of faith-based organizations' accounting books for their religious mission. With the commingling of funds, if fraud is suspected, a faith-based organization would have to open up all of their books for inspection. My amendment would have required separate accounts, therefore, protecting the church's mission and the Federal education mission of Head Start.

Mr. Speaker, let me quote from the Covenant Companion, a Christian publication. I quote from this publication, and I will also include this in the RECORD, as well as two other publications that speak to this. From the Covenant: ``Churches are particularly vulnerable to embezzlement because of the high-level of trust given to employees and volunteers that lack the sophistication, fiscal controls, and oversight.''

My amendment simply would have been a preemptive strike against financial abuse that we know will happen because it has already occurred. For example, this past summer, $80,000 was stolen from a Federal Head Start program run by a church.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this rule. We need a new rule, one that will protect the taxpayers, one that will protect faith-based organizations and stop discrimination.

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