Federal funds now flow to religious employers with no nondiscrimination strings
H.R. 8117 — Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act of 2026 · Filed by Blake Moore (R-UT) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 26, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends tax law to prevent the IRS from denying tax-exempt status to religious organizations based on their beliefs or practices regarding marriage, sexuality, or gender identity—even if those beliefs conflict with law or public policy. It also bars federal agencies from discriminating against religious employers receiving federal grants or contracts based on their hiring practices, including the right to hire only people who share their religious beliefs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to expand the scope of religious exemptions from civil-rights law by (1) preventing tax-exempt-status denial based on doctrinal positions on sexuality/gender, and (2) barring federal agencies from conditioning grants on nondiscrimination in hiring. Both provisions enlarge the legal space for religious organizations to discriminate while retaining public benefits.
What the text implies
- Religious employers receiving federal contracts or grants (e.g., hospitals, universities, social-service providers) may legally discriminate in hiring based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status without federal funding consequences, potentially affecting millions of citizens who work for or depend on federally-funded religious institutions.
- The phrase 'without regard to whether such beliefs or practices are otherwise inconsistent with law or public policy' explicitly shields doctrines that conflict with existing civil-rights law, creating a carve-out from nondiscrimination requirements that applies only to religious entities.
- The bill references existing exemptions (Civil Rights Act §702, ADA §103(d), RFRA) but goes further by preventing federal agencies from using funding conditions to enforce nondiscrimination—a mechanism that has historically been the primary federal lever over private conduct.
- Tax-exempt status for religious organizations is a public subsidy (foregone revenue); the bill prevents the IRS from conditioning that subsidy on doctrinal neutrality, effectively using public money to support organizations whose stated practices may discriminate against protected classes.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose two protections: (1) the IRS can no longer use tax-exempt status as leverage to discourage religious organizations from adopting doctrines that conflict with civil-rights law, and (2) federal agencies cannot condition grants or contracts on nondiscrimination in hiring. Citizens who are LGBTQ+, women, or members of other protected classes may face employment discrimination by religious employers receiving federal funds, with no federal recourse tied to that funding. The bil
Who stands to gain
- religious organizations (tax-exempt status protection)
- religious employers receiving federal contracts or grants (funding access without nondiscrimination
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Religious organizations, Federal agencies, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, First Amendment
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 13 Republicans.
- Mar 26, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 26, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $80,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 11 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Blake Moore, the sponsor, reported $1,475,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Protect the 1st, Inc. — $50,000 on 1 filing
- Protect the 1st, Inc. — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,978 characters) on Apr 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal funds now flow to religious employers with no nondiscrimination strings” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr8117 Report an error
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