Bush Extends Faith Based Initiatives to the States
The Bush Administration is striving to extend the much-needed federal grants from states to faith-based groups, according to the director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.
The Bush Administration is striving to extend the much-needed federal grants from states to faith-based groups, according to the director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.
"We're on the sunrise side of the mountain," said H. James Towey, to the Washington Post, about the future of the faith based initiatives.
Towey explained that while faith-based groups received $1.17 billion in grants from federal agencies in 2003 – about 8 percent of the total $14.5 billion spent on social programs in five federal departments – an additional $40 billion in federal money is given out by state governments that can be used to fund faith-based organizations.
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Therefore, to encourage states to fund faith-based programs, the White House hosted a series of conferences with state leaders and governors that were personally lobbied by Bush.
Towey also said his office will be “looking for cases in which the administration believes state or local governments are not treating religious groups fairly,” according to the Washington Post.
One such case was in Janesville, Wis., where Americans United for Separtion of Church and State tried to convince the city council to halt government funding to the Salvation Army because the SA would have a place for worship activities as well. Despite the AUSC efforts, Towey’s office told city officials to go forward with the $250,000 grant to buy a building for a homeless shelter.
"When it's brought to our attention that a group's being discriminated against, the federal government's going to weigh in," he said.
According to the recently released review of faith-based initiatives in 2003, states have been slow in accepting the Faith-based Initiative programs. However, within the past six months, governors began warming up to the idea. According to Towey, 21 governors, including many Democrats, set up faith-based offices for their states.
