For Immediate Release: February 23, 2022
Contact: Ryan Hite, Communications Director
Washington, D.C.: The Biden Administration announced their intent to kill a 2020 policy from the Department of Education that blocked universities from receiving federal funding if they restricted religious activities by student groups.
“This Trump-era policy is a needed and commonsense protection for students of all faiths,” said Phyllis Schlafly Eagles President Ed Martin. “College and university students are suffering at the hands of hostile elites in higher education, who aren’t there to empower the next generation but to mold young minds to their own agenda. One of the primary ways the bureaucratic elites over education get their way is by swinging around federal dollars with strings attached. What better way to fight back than to withhold federal money if the fundamental First Amendment exercise rights of students are violated?
“The Biden DOE may cite bureaucratic nonsense about compliance and finance, but at the end of the day they have no real reason to pull back this federal protection on religious freedom in schools except to destroy a freedom-based ideology. It also smacks of the Biden White House’s hatred of their predecessor, and a desire to overturn Trump policies simply because of who installed them and not because of their real-world effects.
“This matter needs Congressional oversight now, and even more powerful than both chambers combined is the House’s power of the purse. This is the perfect time for them to use it! Call hearings and demand explanations. The House shouldn’t let this vital constitutional protection be cast aside.”
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