This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
By Susan Crabtree
Real Clear Wire
House Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with what they describe as the State Department’s attempts to impede their investigation into the decision to greenlight $500,000 for a program promoting atheism overseas.
Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is now mulling his next steps, which could include legislation, subpoenas, or other oversight options aimed at forcing the State Department to comply with the probe’s requests for information, according to panel staff. McCaul and several other House Republicans are demanding more information about the 2021 State Department atheism grant and how the funds are being used.
Republican lawmakers have complained about what they describe as the department’s slow-walking of their responses to committee inquiries and requests over the last 15 months. They are particularly upset over the agency’s refusal to make key officials available for interviews.
Since becoming speaker in late October, Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and vocal Christian, has strongly supported McCaul’s probe into the $500,000 atheism grant. Johnson and others want answers from the State Department about the unprecedented grant award that they say is aimed at promoting and expanding the influence of atheists and humanists in the Middle East and North Africa.
McCaul and other GOP House members involved in the probe argue the program could be violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of tax dollars to promote theocracy or a specific religion because the grant provides funds to certain groups but not others in specific countries…
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