Congress is considering coronavirus relief bills to provide much-needed funds for businesses, schools, and unemployment programs during this pandemic.
Yet the Senate version of the bill has several critical flaws: it seeks to shift billions of dollars from public schools to religious, private schools, and it provides no church/state separation safeguards for the nearly $700 billion dollar Paycheck Protection Program.
Under the Senate bill, approximately $7.1 billion dollars would be diverted to private schools, about 70% of which are religious. Unfortunately, many of these private religious schools promote discrimination and are founded in racist ideals.
Moreover, the bill would extend the Paycheck Protection Program and allow another round of funding for some organizations, including religious nonprofits. We must demand that Congress institute basic constitutional requirements so that loan funding used for proselytizing, indoctrination, and worship is not forgivable!
We cannot allow Congress to use the pandemic to shift ever more taxpayer funding to religious organizations and schools, while exempting them from accountability.
