At PTN, we’ve been writing a lot about the Russell Amendment, which is a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (HR 4909) that would authorize taxpayer-funded employment discrimination. It is a sweeping and radical provision that would require that all federal agencies allow religiously affiliated contractors and grantees to discriminate in employment on the basis of religion when using taxpayer money.

As Kerry Eleveld explained in the DailyKos today, “House Republicans are yet again attempting to sneak through a ‘religious liberty’ provision that would allow federal contractors to discriminate against women and LGBTQ Americans in hiring while receiving taxpayer dollars.”

Our colleague, Ian Thompson of the ACLU agrees. Just yesterday in The Hill he wrote:

The Russell Amendment is a thinly veiled attempt to import into federal grants and contracts the kind of discrimination sanctioned by the now infamous anti-LGBT law in North Carolina, as well as the so-called “religious freedom” laws in Indiana and Mississippi, all of which have faced widespread and bipartisan backlash. Do Members of Congress really want to go down this road?

Now is also your chance to speak out against the provision. You can make a difference by telling your Senator to oppose taxpayer-funded discrimination and remove this provision from the bill.

Follow Maggie Garrett online at @maggiefgarrett