Of Little Faith:
President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative at the Close of His First Term
Amy E. Black, Douglas L. Koopman, and David K. Ryden
After more than three years, President Bush’s efforts toward the faith-based initiative
have met with mixed success in the formal institutions of government, different in each of the
legislative, administrative, and judicial arenas. The legislative branch has been most hostile to
faith-based efforts, whereas the executive and judicial branches have been more receptive. The
public debate about the president’s faith-based initiatives has also been very mixed, with little
progress on behalf of the public or media to understand the nuances of what is admittedly a very
complicated issue. This paper briefly reviews developments in the formal institutions of
government, and then goes on to discuss some of the broader issues involved in the faith-based
debate.
LEGISLATIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND JUDICIAL UPDATE
On the legislative front, the president has failed to get Congress to enact into law any
significant element of his faith-based initiatives. The major legislative push was in the 107
th
Congress, in the House, where Oklahoma representative J.C. Watts introduced, and finally led to
House passage, H.R. 7. That bill died after House passage in summer 2001. In the Senate,
senators Lieberman and Santorum waited until the partisan furor over H.R. 7 had quieted, and in
early 2002 introduced the CARE Act, a less ambitious faith-based bill. That bill, too,
encountered heavy opposition and never received floor consideration.
The 108
th
Congress has, so far, been somewhat more friendly to senators Lieberman and
Santorum. In early April 2003, S. 476, a watered down version of the CARE Act of the previous
Congress, passed the Senate by an overwhelming 95-5 margin. The House passed a new H.R. 7,
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