Congress of the United States
‘Washington, DE 20515
April, 2017
President Donald J. Trump
11600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Dear President Trump,
We write to expross our encouragement and support for prompt executive action ensuring
religious liberty protections forall Americans and look forward to working with you on
complementary legislation.
During your campaign, you repeatedly expressed your commitment to defending religious
liberties enshrined in our founding documents stating that, "..the fist priority of my
administration willbe to preserve and protect our religious liberty. The First Amendment
suarantees our right to practice our faith as we see fit. all the time, always, wherever.” We
share that sentiment in Full and request that you sign the draft executive order on religous
liberty, as reported by numerous outlets on February 2, 2017, in order to protect millions of
‘Americans whose religious freedom has been attacked or threatened over the lat elt years
The draft executive order would undo the unworkable Health and Human Services (HHS)
contraception mandate and also ensure that Americans are not coerced to buy abortion
coverage under Obamacare exchange plan. Although the U.S. Supreme Court blocked
enforcement of the contraceptive mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor, absent a full
Obamacare repeal, there remains a need for your administration to protect organizations and
individuals from being coerced into providing or purchasing health coverage in violation of thelr
faith and conscience,
‘There is also a critical need to adopt executive and legislative protections that prohibit
government discrimination against health care providers that decline to participate in or
perform abortion. Despite clear federal statutes to the contrary, medical professionals have
been forced by their employing hospitals to assist in abortions and state governments such as
California have required religious organizations to cover abortion in thelr health plans. To
correct these abuses, Representative Diane Black of Tennessee has re-introduced H.R. 644 the
Conscience Protection Act which you have pledged to sign into law.
Numerous times, you reiterated your support for restoring the free speech rights of charities
‘and churches threatened by the unconstitutional nature ofthe Johnson Amendment. As youmay know, House Majority Whip, Representative Scalise of Louisiana and Representative Hice
‘of Georgia jointly introduced the Free Speech Fairness Act, H.R. 78. Simply put, the underying
bill provides non-profits and faith-based congregations much needed relief from the specter of
‘an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation for Incidental references to paltical events or
candidates. The recent revelations of IRS targeting of conservatives groups, along with
regulary-ssued demand leters sent to churches by outside entities, has created a chiling
effect on pastors from merely mentioning political events.
Executive and legislative action is also needed to protect religious liberty in light of the Supreme
Court's recent redefinition of marriage. We were therefore greatly encouraged to see that the
draft executive order contained protections similar to those in the First Amendment Defense
{Act (FADA), as introduced by Senator Lee of Utah and Representative Labrador of Idaho last
Congress. During oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, then Solicitor General Donald Verril
stated that the nonprofit tax status of religous colleges could be jeopardized should they live
out ther traditional beliefs about marriage. FADA would, among other things, prohibit the
‘ederal government from denying a tax exempt status or withholding a government benefit,
contract, or license due to one's belief that marrage i the union between one man and ane
woman. This legislation would prevent instances such as the USDA threatening to shut down
‘meat-packing plants simply because they express their beliefs on marriage at their business.
\We are encouraged that you have three times pledged in writing to sign the First Amendment
Defense Act ifpassed by Congress, but you need not and should not wait for Congress to act
before ordering the federal government to stop discriminating against individuals and
institutions because of their reasonable beliefs on issues of deep concern to people of faith and
‘00d wil
‘we also strongly support the Russell Amendment to the House-passed Fiscal Year 2017
National Defense Authorization Act and were very encouraged to see thatthe draft executive
‘order explicitly incorporates the Russell Amendment’ protections. The Russell Amendment
|would ensure that long-standing federal religious freedom pratections for religious
‘organizations would not be forfeited merely because they partner with the federal government.
Inthis way, Catholic, Baptist, and Jewish charities, for example, can retain staffing policies that
allow them to remain fully Catholic, Baptist, and Jewish and remain eligible to provide chaplain
services for our men and women in uniform and to provide critical socal services more broadly
AAs you know, President Obama attempted to circumvent the democratic process through his
Unprecedented use of his “pen and phone” and to the extent his abuses can be undone by
executive order, they should be. Its important to note, however, that none of the legislative oF
‘executive protections discussed above would repeal any Obama-era executive orders you have
stated should remain ntact. They do not take away anything from anyone. They only provide a
shield from federal assaults on religious freedom.
Because religious liberty is of such importance and under such threat, we believe that the draft
executive order should be signed without delay and that all the protections discussed in this,letter should be enshrined permanently in our laws. We look forward to coordinating with your
‘administration on these efforts so that critical religious liberty and conscience protections may
finally be restored to millons of Americans who have been harmed and left unprotected for far
too many years.
Sincerely,
‘Warren Davidson
‘Member of Congress
Usk Roiigl
Member of Congres
Bob Gibbs ( 2 ‘deol
ag ‘Member of Congress
‘Mark Meadows Thomas Massie
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Nb Hace
Glenn Grothman
Member of Congress
(Me Ge
Mike Johnson Steve Russell
Member of Congress Member of CongressMember of Congress
0 Re
David Roteer
Mepabgr of Congress
7
Dave Brat
Member of Congress
BGinin- Gabpo—
‘Member of Congress ‘Member of Congress
‘Member of Congress
ef Brdd
abd R ebude,
* Raul Labrador
Kacthp~
Louie Gohmert
Member of Congress
‘Steve King
Member of Congressal 4 Ss Sg Us i
Member of Coxgress ‘Member of Congress
Revingramer ohn 96fler
‘Member of Congress Member of Congress
in uihcan, J bles ——
. amber of Congress Member ‘SAO
wlamelomen mer _fokbesl
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Member = ° fez —
wnat Mm. Walker Folie) Wilson
Member of Congress Member of Congress
iM DM 4p (Bardon Trg
7 Lives
Sl sey — gee
Yocee He 7X-7 2