http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050117a.aspJanuary 17, 2004
GORDON ROBERTSON: With us now from the White House is the director of the faith-based office, Jim Towey. He has also been promoted to be assistant to the President. That is a position on the level of Karl Rove and Chief of Staff Andy Card. Jim, congratulations and welcome back to The 700 Club.
JIM TOWEY: Thank you very much, Gordon. I appreciate it.
ROBERTSON: You met with the President this week, what did he tell you about the message he wants to send to the faith community?
TOWEY: I think that President Bush is gearing up for a very aggressive run to advance his faith-based initiative. He sees the life-transforming work that faith-based community groups are doing in America. I think the message I got in the Oval Office was ‘full steam ahead.’ You just see that it is in his heart, that he knows from his own personal experience how faith can redirect a life. And I think he wants to make sure that our homeless and our addicted and others have that opportunity to be able to access the most effective programs in our country.
ROBERTSON: In the first term, he seemed to be stymied a bit by Congress in trying to get this through, and basically did an end-run by forming, underneath the cabinet secretaries, sort of sub-departments that would make grants. Is that going to continue to be the plan or is there hope on the legislative front?
TOWEY: We are people of hope. We are hoping that with the President not up for reelection now, that some of the politics that was around the initiative will cool down a little bit. Because I think the voters spoke very clearly that they don't fear faith. In fact, they believe that these organizations are making a difference in the country. We are confident that Congress is going to give a new fresh look to the faith-based initiative. Meanwhile, President Bush is going to soldier on to work with the agencies, and in other words, all the powers he has as chief executive to make sure there is a level-playing field, and that we end the discrimination against faith-based organizations.
ROBERTSON: What has he specifically charged you with, for the second term?
TOWEY: He wants to make sure that state and local governments receive the technical assistance they need. You know, 40 billion tax dollars are administered by state and local governments. They take federal funds and administer it. We want to make sure that faith-based organizations are not discriminated against, and that these small community groups are able to compete. A lot of times the grants go to the best-connected organizations or to the ones with the best written application. President Bush wants to put the focus on effectiveness. He charged me with continuing to go out there and welcome people of faith in the public square and let them know the dos and don'ts. Some organizations say, look, we want to proselytize. So they can’t get job training money to do that. But, for example, Operation Blessing received a grant. It has done great work on hunger in America. So these are the kind of partnerships President Bush wants me to go and encourage, and further. I am the luckiest guy in the world to have this job.
ROBERTSON: If there is a faith-based organization -- we broadcast to a million people, and a lot of them have contacts with faith-based initiatives across the nation. If they don't have the expertise on how to apply for this kind of money, how can they get it and where should they go?
TOWEY: Well, a couple of things come to mind. I would direct them, if they have access to the Internet, to go to the Web site, which is FBCI.gov. That is faith-based community initiative FBCI.gov. Don't go to fbi.gov. That is a whole different world there. You will get a lot of -- that will direct you to a lot of information. If you don't have access to the Internet, we urge you to call the mayor or governor's office in your state. We have about 21 governors with faith-based offices. We would like to see them in all 50 states. We also would encourage them to attend a White House conference. We have 16 regional. They are free. First come, first serve. You would be surprised how well the word is getting out now, on the initiative, and I think when you see President Bush's resolve, he campaigned on it and said, if I get reelected, I will press ahead. And he’s going to keep his word.
ROBERTSON: Jim, do you have a ballpark on the amount of money that is going to be available for this kind of grant?
TOWEY: In terms of discretionary grants at the federal level, in 2004, we put out about $15 billion in grants. In 2003, over $1.1 billion went to faith-based groups. And at HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, in the Housing agency, that was a $150 million increase. So I think that is an impressive showing that, when faith-based groups are allowed to compete on a level-playing field, they can compete effectively. And they have good programs. I think President Bush did a lot to change the discrimination they were facing.
ROBERTSON: OK, Jim, thank you for being with us.
TOWEY: My pleasure. God bless you.
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