{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-reintroduces-legislation-prohibiting-discrimination-in-the-name-of-religion", "Booker Reintroduces Legislation Prohibiting Discrimination in the Name of Religion", "2021-09-15", "2021", "2021-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "NJ", "Cory A. Booker", "B001288", "www.booker.senate.gov", "booker", "https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reintroduced the Do No Harm Act, legislation to restore the Religious Freedom Restoration Act\u2019s (RFRA) original intent and prohibit individuals and businesses from using religion to deny others\u2019 civil rights. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced this legislation earlier this year in the U.S. House.\n\nIn response to the 1990 Supreme Court case, Employment Division v. Smith, which excused discriminatory practices towards American Indians, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in 1993, expanding civil rights protections for religious minorities. However, decades of systematic efforts by some organizations and businesses and the Supreme Court\u2019s 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (which held that RFRA requires closely-held corporations with religious opposition to contraception to be exempt from the Affordable Care Act\u2019s contraception mandate) have coopted the original intent of the law and turned it into a license to legally discriminate and impose religious beliefs on others.\n\n\u201cFreely exercising your religion shouldn\u2019t mean denying others of their civil rights,\u201d said Senator Booker. \u201cThe Do No Harm Act rights the Supreme Court\u2019s wrong, restoring the careful balance of the First Amendment by both protecting religious liberty and ensuring the law and religious beliefs cannot be wielded to deny people of their right to live free from discrimination.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, it was intended to protect religious exercise\u2014not to erode civil rights under the guise of religious freedom. Regrettably, we have seen RFRA repeatedly used to attack civil rights protections, deny access to health care, and allow discrimination in federal contracts and programs. The Do No Harm Act simply provides that RFRA cannot be used to limit access to health care, deny services supported by taxpayer dollars, or undermine the Civil Rights Act or other anti-discrimination protections. Congress must take this critical step to ensure no one can weaponize religious freedom to erode our fundamental civil and legal rights,\u201d said Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03).\n\nSpecifically, The Do No Harm Act would prevent the RFRA from being used to deny:\n\nProtection against discrimination laws or the promotion of equal opportunity, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other laws;\n\nWorkplace protections or protections against child abuse;\n\nHealthcare access, information, referrals, provisions, coverage or services to which persons are otherwise legally entitled;\n\nServices that the government has contracted to be provided to beneficiaries through a government contract, grant, or cooperative agreement; and\n\nAccommodations or other benefits and services provided by the government.\n\n\u201cThe Do No Harm Act will uphold our country\u2019s founding principle of religious freedom \u2013 that everyone has the freedom to believe as they want, but our laws cannot allow anyone to use their religious beliefs to harm others,\u201d said Rachel Laser, American United President and CEO. \u201cWe thank Senator Cory Booker, a leader with a long history of putting faith and values into action, for sponsoring this critical legislation.\u201d\n\n\u201cReligious freedom is a core American value, enshrined in our constitution. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was instituted to guard against burdens placed on religious minorities that interfere with the practice of their faith,\u201d said JoDee Winterhof, Human Rights Campaign Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. \u201cAnti-equality lawmakers and activists have distorted RFRA\u2019s original intent to achieve political objectives and strip hard-won nondiscrimination and safety protections from marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ people. The Do No Harm Act will remedy this misinterpretation and prevent the weaponization of the RFRA.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt has never been more important to clarify that religious liberty is not a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people, those seeking reproductive health care or people of minority faith groups. We see religion being used to turn people away from housing, health care, education and work. There should be no place for this harmful discrimination in our country and in our laws,\u201dsaid Ian Thompson, Senior Legislative Counsel at American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).\n\nThe following Senators co-sponsored this legislation: Whitehouse (D-RI), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Merkley (D-OR), Klobuchar (D-MN), Feinstein (D-CA), Blumenthal (D-CT), Gillibrand (D-NY), Padilla (D-CA), Murphy (D-CT), Duckworth (D-IL), Shaheen (D-NH), Smith (D-MN), Hirono (D-HI), Durbin (D-IL), Van Hollen (D-MD), Coons (D-DE), Stabenow (D-MI), Carper (D-DE), Sanders (I-VT), Cantwell (D-WA), Brown (D-OH), Menendez (D-NJ), Baldwin (D-WI), Reed (D-RI), Markey (D-MA), Warren (D-MA), Murray (D-WA), Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), and Rosen (D-NV).\n\nThe full text of endorsed organizations can be viewed here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-reintroduces-legislation-prohibiting-discrimination-in-the-name-of-religion"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7537880446761847, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}