Trump unveils funding reforms for religious groups as impeachment trial looms

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on prayer in public schools, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on prayer in public schools, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

Published Jan 17, 2020

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Washington - President Donald Trump unveiled a slew of rule

proposals Thursday intended to expand the ability of religious groups

to get federal money and to loosen restrictions on how they spend it,

courting a valuable political constituency as the Senate began a

critical phase of the impeachment process.

The nod toward Trump's evangelical base in an election year comes as

the president tries to highlight his efforts to keep previous

campaign promises.

Trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and China also reached

milestones this week even as the Senate began deciding whether to

remove Trump from office. While playing to his base, Trump's rules

are concerning to LGBTQ groups, which see them as possibly giving

religious groups license to discriminate.

"It is a culture war," Trump said at an Oval Office ceremony, where

he sat surrounded by religious activists and children from a variety

of religious backgrounds. On his desk lay a large copy of the 2016

electoral map showing the areas he won.

"You have two sides and you have a side that believes so strongly in

prayer and they're being restricted and it's getting worse and worse

and I think we've made a big impact," he added.

The package of religious proposals announced Thursday are broad and

their potential impact is uncertain, given that it will take months

to approve rules in nine Cabinet agencies and potentially longer to

interpret and defend them from expected court challenges.

The rules are primarily aimed at forcing states to get rid of

prohibitions against awarding grant money to religious groups.

Some attorneys say they could also help churches and other religious

groups argue in court that they have more latitude in offering

programs that exclude or stigmatize LGBTQ people or require prayer as

a condition of participation. Trump also reinforced existing

protections for students who form prayer groups at school.

"The emphasis is entirely on protecting the religious exercise of

providers," said Ira Lupu, a professor emeritus of law at George

Washington University who specializes in the relationship between

government and religion. There is "no attention to or emphasis on the

rights of perspective beneficiaries of these services to be free from

discrimination."

Robert Tuttle, another professor at George Washington's law school,

said the impacts could be broad, considering the number of groups

that receive federal money - "basically anybody that is providing

services, social welfare services to folks is going to be touched in

some way by these federal funding rules."

Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama both embraced initiatives

intended to allow religious groups to get more federal funding for

community activities such as homeless sheltering, marriage counseling

or addiction treatment.

But they were required to separate those programs from churches'

religious activities in an effort to uphold the constitutional

separation of church and state. Those requirements remain but the

Trump administration has tried to weaken their enforcement in states

or through federal agencies that distribute grant money.

"It looks like the administration has gotten out ahead of where the

courts are," said Tuttle, a professor of law and religion, who

believes the new rules could open the door to providers offering

health and other services with a strong religious component.

Many of Trump's evangelical supporters have felt under attack from

requirements that they keep federally funded activities separate,

believing they were being coerced to adopt more socially liberal

policies, though in many cases the fears were not borne out.

Trump on Thursday blamed what he called "a growing totalitarian

impulse on the far left that seeks to punish restrict and even

prohibit religious expression."

Trump's emphasis on those issues has helped him attract a powerful

and loyal voting block, even as many Christian conservatives have

disapproved of Trump's personal behavior.

"This is very much for political credit between now and the

election," said Lupu, who cited the long lag time required to enact

and interpret the new rules.

Administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of

anonymity said the new rules would not lift existing

anti-discrimination rules or defy court rulings. They said people who

do not like a group offering social services can choose another

group.

But the administration has generally sided with religious groups in

cases involving anti-discrimination laws. And opponents of the new

rules point out that many communities lack options for social

services that are not church-run.

"We are deeply alarmed," said Jenny Pizer, law and policy director

for Lambda Legal, which advocates for the LGBTQ community. The new

rules "are very likely to increase discrimination."

The most specific change announced Thursday involves groups that get

money from the Department of Health and Human Services. Current rules

require religious groups that provide drug treatment and other

services to disclose that alternative programs are available

elsewhere and to tell patients that they will not discriminate based

on religion.

Trump's proposed rules would eliminate the disclosure requirement,

which administration officials say is an unfair burden on religious

groups.

Pizer said she worries that, for example, LGBTQ people could be sent

to court-ordered substance abuse programs run by groups that

stigmatize them and ultimately hurt their ability to recover.

"The idea was to offer a choice of a faith-based agency," she said.

"but not to have the government pushing members of the public into a

religious environment."

tca/dpa

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