{"id":1905324,"date":"2023-03-27T10:12:49","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T14:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-gop-to-combat-bidens-war-on-religious-student-orgs-with-protections-bill\/"},"modified":"2023-03-27T10:16:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T14:16:43","slug":"exclusive-gop-to-combat-bidens-war-on-religious-student-orgs-with-protections-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-gop-to-combat-bidens-war-on-religious-student-orgs-with-protections-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: GOP To Combat Biden\u2019s War On Religious Student Orgs With Protections Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-gop-to-combat-bidens-war-on-religious-student-orgs-with-protections-bill%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1905324&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s Department of Education wants to eliminate protections for religious student organizations, but Republicans in both the Senate and the House are introducing a bill that, if passed, would punish higher education institutions for discriminating against on-campus faith-based groups. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/634046310\/118-Equal-Campus-Access-Act-Text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Equal Campus Access Act of 2023<\/a> from Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan would ensure that any universities or colleges that discriminate against student organizations because of those groups\u2019 \u201creligious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct\u201d will be barred from receiving taxpayer dollars. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1101643302\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4455bfe02a076cc0cddf3ca200f1abc1 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4455bfe02a076cc0cddf3ca200f1abc1\"><\/div>\n<p>Lankford and Scott along with 15 other GOP senators also penned a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/634046601\/3-24-23-Senate-Comment-on-Rescission-of-Religious-Liberty-and-Free-Inquiry-Rule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Monday demanding he withdraw a proposed rule repeal and preserve the protections the Trump administration solidified for religious groups to ensure they are not \u201csubjected to unconstitutional discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst Amendment rights apply to all individuals and organizations on a public college campus regardless of whether their beliefs are favored by the government,\u201d the Republicans wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation and letter are designed to combat Biden\u2019s DOE, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2023\/02\/22\/2023-03670\/direct-grant-programs-state-administered-formula-grant-programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced in February<\/a> that it plans to repeal a Trump-era rule that protected faith-based student organizations from discrimination by universities. <\/p>\n<p>In 2019, then-President Donald Trump issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2019\/03\/26\/2019-05934\/improving-free-inquiry-transparency-and-accountability-at-colleges-and-universities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive order<\/a> demanding restrictions on the flow of taxpayer dollars to colleges and universities that fail \u201cto promote free and open debate on college and university campuses.\u201d Shortly after that in 2020, Trump\u2019s DOE debuted a rule that required any public institution that receives federal funds \u201cto not deny a religious student organization any of the rights, benefits, or privileges that are otherwise afforded to other student organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-50676407c597e71047690a495b32d798 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-50676407c597e71047690a495b32d798\"><\/div>\n<p>Before Trump\u2019s rule, higher education institutions in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clsreligiousfreedom.org\/sites\/default\/files\/site_files\/Center%20Legislation\/2023-03%20List%20of%20Situations%20Final_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">at least 37 states<\/a> threatened Christian, Muslim, Sikh, and Mormon student organizations\u2019 funds, access to resources, and presence on campus due to their faiths. <\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s DOE claims the rule is not \u201cnecessary to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion\u201d and \u201ccreated confusion among institutions.\u201d Yet the agency provided no examples \u201cof formal complaints of confusion from a college or university\u201d during or after a bipartisan briefing with congressional staff. <\/p>\n<p>The DOE also complained that the rule placed an \u201cunduly burdensome role for the Department to investigate allegations regarding [institutions of higher education]\u2019s treatment of religious student organizations,\u201d but, as Republicans noted in the letter, the DOE devotes plenty of time and resources to other antidiscrimination causes. <\/p>\n<p>For example, the DOE\u2019s Office for Civil Rights is allowed <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/about\/overview\/budget\/budget22\/justifications\/bb-ocr.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$130,000<\/a> and hundreds of employees to punish institutions they deem guilty of race-based discrimination. The disparity in willingness, the GOP senators say, proves the DOE\u2019s lack of interest in protecting religious Americans\u2019 First Amendment rights.  <\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-517c43d212bf7faa9044b49eabeac961 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-517c43d212bf7faa9044b49eabeac961\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIn abdicating its responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of religious student organizations, the Department is abandoning religious student organizations to address these discrimination claims in costly, time-consuming litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the DOE gets its way and the rule is finalized, Republicans and dozens of religious groups such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianlawstudents.org\/sites\/default\/files\/site_files\/Center%20Legislation\/FAQ%20regarding%20Protecting%20Religious%20Student%20Groups.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christian Legal Society<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/thetablet.org\/u-s-bishops-urge-dept-of-education-to-keep-rule-protecting-campus-religious-groups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United States Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a>, and Coalition for Jewish Values say it would \u201cmake it harder\u00a0for religious student organizations to exist on public college campuses.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>To put it simply, DOE\u2019s intention to undo the rule would not only leave religious groups ripe for discrimination but would remove any threat of recourse from the federal government for the schools that exclude them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an alarming admission that the Department would rather allow discrimination against religious student organizations than ensure compliance with First Amendment protections as a condition of receiving grants,\u201d the Republicans concluded.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-833c80d14f461c0a6a2b5d1ccac21d90 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-833c80d14f461c0a6a2b5d1ccac21d90\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/department-of-education\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Department of Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/higher-education\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">higher education<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/james-lankford\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">James Lankford<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/miguel-cardona\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Miguel Cardona<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/religious-freedom\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">religious freedom<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/tim-scott\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Tim Scott<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/universities\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">universities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s Department of Education wants to eliminate protections for religious student organizations, but Republicans in both the Senate and the House are introducing a bill that, if passed, would punish higher education institutions for discriminating against on-campus faith-based groups. The Equal Campus Access Act of 2023 from Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":1905325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[9650,3706,3725,6203,12659,8822,4054,5135,6696],"class_list":["post-1905324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-combat","tag-bidens","tag-exclusive","tag-gop","tag-orgs","tag-protections","tag-religious","tag-student","tag-war"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1905325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}