US Senate to vote on ensuring religious school students aren't excluded from food programs

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor, director of the ADF Center for Religious Schools, regarding expected consideration of S.J. Res. 42 in the U.S. Senate, a resolution seeking to protect faith-based schools’ ability to participate in federal food programs serving children in need. The resolution would rescind a discriminatory Biden administration policy that threatens to take away children’s lunches because they attend Christian schools:

“The government can’t withhold food from families in need simply because their children attend a Christian school. This violates the U.S. Constitution and multiple federal laws that protect religious schools’ ability to operate according to the dictates of their faith. Yet the Biden administration is trying to enforce its policy to discriminate against schools whose beliefs on human sexuality differ from the government’s preferred view. For example, ADF attorneys are currently advocating on behalf of a California church and preschool after state officials—relying in part on the administration’s reinterpretation of federal law—unlawfully suspended them from participating in a federal food program because of their religious beliefs. And, in a similar case last year, ADF attorneys successfully advocated on behalf of a Christian school in Florida that sued the Biden administration and state officials for threatening to pull the school’s lunch program funding because of its religious beliefs. We commend Sen. Roger Marshall for bringing forth this resolution affirming the First Amendment’s promise of religious freedom for every American family, and we urge the entire U.S. Senate to support it.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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