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A little publicized policy directive from the U.S. Agency for International Development is getting a closer look from religious freedom advocates and promoters of conscience protections in federal law. Months in development, the directive offers one of the broadest and most inclusive conscience protections to faith-based organizations funded by USAID to operate AIDS treatment and prevention programs and other health care programs around the world, Catholic observers said. Specifically, the directive bans discrimination against faith-based and other organizations that decide not to engage in activities that violate religious or moral principles, such as condom distribution and education in their use. Advocates of religious freedom see the language in the agency's acquisition and assistance policy directive as a model that could be implemented in all government programs, contracts and grants with minor changes depending on the programs individual agencies oversee. Such language could pertain to federal programs ranging from health care reform to assistance to human trafficking victims. The directive implements the conscience protection mandate that was included in the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. The law authorized up to $48 billion over 5 years to combat malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. It includes funding for the widely lauded President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, known as PEPFAR. The law, which expires at the end of fiscal year 2013, passed handily in both houses of Congress, both then under the control of Democrats: 308-116 in the House and 80-16 in the Senate. President George W. Bush signed the bill July 30, 2008. For the record, President Barack Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois, did not vote on the measure. "(The directive) we feel expresses quite well what we would have wanted to see, and we are pleased with the constructive process we went through with them and they went through with us," said Bill O'Keefe, vice president for government relations and advocacy at Catholic Relief Services. "It's very important obviously because the church's global health network is critical to addressing the problem of AIDS in many countries. That was recognized in the legislation and now is recognized explicitly in this guidance so we can at least compete fairly. We're not asking for any preferential treatment. But as the law specified we wanted to be able to complete fairly without discrimination because of our teaching," O'Keefe said. He acknowledged that CRS played the leading role in the directive's development. The agency has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for AIDS services around the world since 2004. While CRS was unable to provide details on how much funding it received from USAID under PEPFAR, it has received $740 million for its AIDSRelief program from the federal government since 2004. The program has provided care and treatment to nearly 700,000 people in Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The directive affects not just CRS but all faith-based agencies that receive funding under PEPFAR. That includes the Catholic Medical Mission Board and its large AIDS-related programming in Kenya and Haiti. The directive was welcomed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is embroiled in its own dispute with the Obama's administration over religious freedom issues and conscience protections on a number of fronts, particularly health care reform. "This (directive) incorporates the purpose of the statute into implementation," said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. Doerflinger remained cautious, however, telling CNS the directive is limited to specific programs funded by one government agency. He said only the fact that the law reauthorizing PEPFAR and other health services included specific conscience protections was why the directive was as broad as it was. When the programs are up for reauthorization in 2013, faith-based groups will have to renew their push to preserve the nondiscrimination wording they support, he said.