According to the Roundtable on Religion: The question of whether Congress should expand laws to allow publicly-funded faith-based organization to employ staff based on their religious beliefs was once again brought to the front burner last week, producing a heated debate and legislative wrangling.

From CQ: The Senate on Thursday passed legislation renewing worker-training programs, setting up a conference with the House after the July Fourth recess because the House version of the same bill includes some significant differences. Negotiations will center on two provisions in the House bill that Enzi — in negotiations with Democrats on his committee — left out of his bill. One provision would allow faith-based groups that receive job-training grants to base their hiring decisions on the religions of job applicants. Now we will see what happens in conference...

John Hostettler (R-IN) has introduced - for the 5th time - the Public Expression of Religion Act, which would "eliminating the award of attorneys' fees to plaintiffs who bring cases based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment -- the phrase in the Constitution that sets up the separation of church and state", according to the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy.