Rights of Government Grantees

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Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Head Start Reauthorization Passes House without Faith-based Discrimination Language

On May 2, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429) passed the House without a provision that would have allowed grantees to discriminate on the basis of religion when hiring for positions funded by Head Start. The 365-48 vote followed the defeat of an amendment sponsored by Rep. Howard McKeon (R-CA) that would have permitted the religion-based hiring decisions. The long battle over Head Start reauthorization will now move forward as the Senate considers Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) Head Start for School Readiness Act (S.556), which does not include a religious preference measure. In addition, neither bill contains controversial limitations on use of private funds for voter registration by Head Start agencies.

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Head Start Reauthorization Passes Without Stripping Civil Rights Protections

May 4, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

With a vote of 365-48, the House passed the Head Start reauthorization bill, and importantly without a religious hiring preference provision that would have allowed providers to hire employees based on religion. As expected, Republicans offered a motion to recommit with instructions to include the faith-based provision. According to CQ ($$), "Republicans defended the hiring amendment as "principled," calling it both a civil rights and civil liberties issue. The Democrats had another word for it: discrimination." Fortunately the motion to recommit failed with a vote of 195-222.

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White House Opposes Head Start Reauthorization Bill

May 1, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

According to CQ, ($$) the White House expressed strong opposition to the Head Start reauthorization bill (HR 1429) that the House is expected to vote on today. The administration issued a statement that urges Congress to preserve Head Start's National Reporting System and to amend the bill to give hiring exemptions to faith-based groups. "The Administration strongly encourages the House to amend H.R.

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Tell Your Representative To Oppose Motion to Recommit; Support Head Start Reauthorization As Approved By Committee!

Apr 27, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Next week, possibly Wednesday, the House will consider H.R.1429, to reauthorize for the first time in a decade, the childhood development program Head Start. However,

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Committee Votes Down Faith-Based Hiring Amendment to Head Start Bill

On March 14, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R.1429) after defeating an amendment that would have allowed faith-based organizations to hire teachers for the Head Start program based on religion. Attempts to insert such language into Head Start were unsuccessful in the past. This is the first time the issue has come up in the 110th Congress. The controversial provision was defeated 26-19 on a party line vote, and the overall bill passed 42-1.

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Appeals Court Upholds USAID Pledge Requirement for HIV/AIDS Grantees

On Feb. 27, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia overturned a lower court ruling that voided a USAID requirement that grantees under an HIV/AIDS program adopt certain policies on prostitution. The ruling in DKT International v. USAID is the first decision in two cases in separate federal appeals courts that involve the same issue. DKT expects to seek a re-hearing before the entire Circuit Court. An appeal from another lower court ruling that overturned the same requirement is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

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Faith-Based Hiring Amendment in Head Start Reauthorization Bill

Mar 15, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Yesterday the House Education and Labor Committee approved Head Start reauthorization legislation, HR1429. Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuno (R-PR) offered an amendment that would have allowed faith-based organizations to hire teachers on the basis of religion. According to CQ, ($$) this issue was the main point of contention during the five hour long markup hearing. Supporters of the amendment said the religious hiring would help increase faith-based groups participation in the Head Start program. This same proposal was included in last year's Head Start reauthorization bill.

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Faith-Based Funding Case Goes to Supreme Court

Feb 23, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The LA Times discusses the Hein vs. Freedom From Religion Foundation case, which the Supreme Court will consider next Wednesday February 28. At issue is whether taxpayers can sue over federal funding that the foundation perceives to promote religion. This could be a significant ruling in regards to the separation of church and state. The Bush administration is requesting that the case is thrown out, claiming that taxpayers have no legal interest in how the executive branch spends public money.

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Courts Defining When Government Funds Cannot Support Faith-Based Programs

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments about whether taxpayers have the right to challenge the constitutionality of government funding for conferences supported by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that are alleged to promote religious groups over secular ones. Meanwhile, several recent court decisions involving separation of government-funded and religious programs provide some clarity to vague federal regulations.

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Federal Grant for Marriage Program Challenged for Religious Content

Feb 6, 2007 by Kay Guinane

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) recently filed an updated complaint in their lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging use of public funds for the Northwest Marriage Institute's bible based marriage counseling program. The Institute received a direct grant of $50,000 from the Department of Health and Human Service's Compassion Capital Fund, to help small religious groups increase their ability to compete for government contracts.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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