WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Jan. 16 his
administration is issuing nine proposed rules to ensure the nation's
faith-based service providers and organizations are not discriminated against
by federal agencies' regulations or in their grant-making processes because of
religion.
The agencies affected include Veterans Affairs, Health and Human
Services, Labor, Agriculture, Education, Justice, Homeland Security, and
International Development.
Trump said his administration "is committed to ensuring
religious organizations can compete on a level playing field for funding,
without discrimination."
"The proposed rules would eliminate burdensome Obama-era
requirements that unfairly imposed unique regulatory burdens only on religious
organizations," he said.
Among those requirements faith-based service providers have had
to give notice they are religiously affiliated and must make available a list
of alternative secular service providers.
He made the comments on the proposed rules during an Oval Office
event on National Religious Freedom Day after he announced new guidance on
prayer in public schools.
Trump said the Office of Management and Budget also was releasing
a memo requiring federal agencies to ensure the grant-making practices of state
recipients of federal funding comply with the First Amendment's guarantee of
religious freedom.
The federal agencies have 120 days to comply and provide evidence
of updating their policies.
Supporters of the Trump administration's proposed rules cite the
U.S. Supreme Court decision in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer in 2017. The
justices ruled Missouri had wrongly determined the church as a religious entity
could not receive public funds for a playground used by students no matter
their religion.
"Our nation has a proud heritage of religious freedom, and
of religious institutions providing care and support to the poor and needy,”
U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a statement about Trump's
proposed rules. Under these, he added, "religious organizations that receive
federal grants may provide aid to the needy without posting a warning label
regarding their faith."