Opening Statement of the Hon. Wally Herger, a Representative in Congress from the State of California,
 and Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources

Hearing on H.R. 7, the "Community Solutions Act of 2001"

June 14, 2001

I welcome all of our witnesses and guests to this morning's hearing on H.R. 7, the "Community Solutions Act of 2001."

I am interested in all the issues raised by H.R. 7, including those designed to increase charitable giving and encourage more savings by low-income families. Those are all important goals, which public policy can and should promote.

As Chairman of the Human Resources Subcommittee, I also look forward to our testimony addressing what is often called "charitable choice". Charitable choice refers to changes made under welfare reform and subsequent laws designed to permit more involvement by churches, synagogues, mosques and others in the faith-based community to help Americans in need. We will hear today about what services are being offered, and what the effect would be of expanding those services, as H.R. 7 proposes.

I trust we also will hear about a number of concerns about separation of church and state, and whether there are adequate protections built into this legislation. I share these concerns because I value the tradition of religious freedom our country has enjoyed. We all have an interest in getting this right. For example, we provided a number of protections in the original charitable choice language in the 1996 welfare reform law. We are also eager to learn whether those protections are working as intended, which is an important concern as we consider further steps.

To help us answer such questions, we have an impressive list of witnesses, including the co-authors of H.R. 7, Representatives J.C. Watts and Tony Hall. Their support for this legislation proves this effort can be a bipartisan one. There is other evidence of that, too. Let me quote from one of our recent Presidential candidates who expressed support for expanding charitable choice, as H.R. 7 would do:

"I believe we should extend this carefully tailored approach to other vital services where faith-based organizations can play a role, such as drug treatment, homelessness, and youth violence prevention."

That quote was by then-Vice President Al Gore, in a speech he delivered to the Salvation Army in 1999. Apparently he was convincing because today the Salvation Army is announcing its support for H.R. 7.

So this is an idea that crosses not only religious but political bounds as well. That makes perfect sense when you consider the goal - providing the best services and greatest choices to those in need. All of us should agree on that.