New York, NY, April 2, 2001…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said a new so-called "charitable choice" bill is "seriously flawed" and "lacks essential constitutional safeguards for protecting both religious organizations and program beneficiaries – America’s most vulnerable and needy citizens." According to ADL, the "Expansion of Charitable Choice" provision of the Community Solutions Act of 2001, introduced by Representative J. C. Watts (R-OK), also takes several serious steps backward from even the minimal protections offered in previous "charitable choice" laws and "fails to address the deeply troubling possibility that extremists, hatemongers and terrorists may receive taxpayer money."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

This bill is seriously flawed and lacks essential constitutional safeguards for protecting both religious organizations and program beneficiaries -- America’s most vulnerable and needy citizens. At the same time it opens religious organizations to lawsuits, audits, and other invasive government proceedings and fails to address the deeply troubling possibility that extremists, hatemongers and terrorists may receive taxpayer money.

ADL cited the following reasons for finding the bill problematic:

• It does not prevent beneficiaries from being required to participate in religious activity to obtain program benefits;
• It will inevitably result in divisive competition among religious groups for scarce government resources;
• It would explicitly permit religious discrimination in the hiring of staff for these new taxpayer-funded programs;
• In establishing a new system of government contracting, the bill ignores the success of existing government-funded partnerships with religiously affiliated organizations, such as Catholic Charities, Jewish Community Federations and Lutheran Social Services. These groups have provided excellent service to communities while maintaining safeguards that have protected beneficiaries from unwanted and unconstitutional proselytizing;
• It fails to address the deeply troubling possibility that extremists and hatemongers may receive taxpayer money.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.