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Jewish groups expect action with Democratic majority
BY: RON KAMPEAS, JTA
With Democrats in charge of the new US Congress convening this week, it's a time of well-wishing, wish lists and wishes come true for an array of national Jewish groups.
Freshmen - about 60 of them - and returnees alike found invitations, inquiries and entreaties from Jewish groups upon their arrival in Washington.
The Jewish organizations that deal with domestic policy have been galvanized by a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, whose leadership is committed to reviving issues buried by six years of a virtual Republican lock on power in Washington.
“There's a possibility of movement on issues that we care deeply about,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Many of those issues top the � hours” agenda set forth by Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the new House speaker, who wants to pass major reforms in the first weeks of the 110th Congress. Raising the minimum wage tops the agenda and is set to come before Congress as early as next week.
A number of national Jewish groups have signed on to a letter supporting the increase. The proposed legislation would raise the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
The letter, signed by, among others, the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Union for Reform Judaism and B'nai B'rith International, urges lawmakers not to attach amendments to the bill. That element was promoted strongly by Pelosi, who has made it clear she wants the bill passed unencumbered by the pet ideologies and projects of Congress members.
Another top agenda item for Pelosi is another shot at federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. President Bush vetoed the attempt last year - his only veto in six years - heeding Christian evangelists who oppose toying with what they regard as human life. Pelosi is hoping to build a veto-proof two-thirds majority this time around.
Hadassah, which has led lobbying for stem-cell research, was flying in at least 30 leaders to Washington this week for various inaugural events to make the case for passage .
Groups such as Hadassah, the Religious Action Center, JCPA and the United Jewish Communities are nonpartisan, but the Jewish emphasis on care for the elderly and poor have led to natural alliances with the Democrats on domestic and social issues.
A signal of that alliance was Pelosi's choice of Saperstein as one of only two speakers to launch three days of events marking her historic ascension as the first woman to be speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Pelosi wanted the first event - a Mass on Wednesday morning at her alma mater, Washington's Trinity University - dedicated to the child victims of Darfur and Hurricane Katrina.
Sources close to the Democratic leadership said that she views the US Jewish community as taking the lead in raising consciousness about the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, and she saw Saperstein as a natural for the event.
For its part, the UJC, the umbrella for the North American federation system, already has targeted new Congress members - about 50 Democrats and another dozen Republicans - with an outreach effort, offering to set up meetings and lay out the priorities for the nation's Jewish federations.
Those priorities include:
€ protection for Medicare and Medicaid funding;
€ continued homeland security funding for vulnerable Jewish institutions; and
€ financial backing for naturally occurring retirement communities, an effort to allow the elderly to age close to home. The UJC innovated the program, known as NORCs, which is now being replicated by other minority groups.
Such wish lists are bound to proliferate with an array of social activist groups, but Democrats say not to expect too much too soon.
Pelosi is committed to “pay as you go reforms” to counter what the Democrats believe was profligate spending by the Bush administration and by 14 years of the Republican-led Congress.
That means an end, for now, to earmarks for members' pet projects, which have been key in funding some Jewish-favored programs, including the NORCs and a program to streamline access to services by families who care for their elderly and infirm at home.
Freshmen - about 60 of them - and returnees alike found invitations, inquiries and entreaties from Jewish groups upon their arrival in Washington.
The Jewish organizations that deal with domestic policy have been galvanized by a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, whose leadership is committed to reviving issues buried by six years of a virtual Republican lock on power in Washington.
“There's a possibility of movement on issues that we care deeply about,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Many of those issues top the � hours” agenda set forth by Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the new House speaker, who wants to pass major reforms in the first weeks of the 110th Congress. Raising the minimum wage tops the agenda and is set to come before Congress as early as next week.
A number of national Jewish groups have signed on to a letter supporting the increase. The proposed legislation would raise the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
The letter, signed by, among others, the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Union for Reform Judaism and B'nai B'rith International, urges lawmakers not to attach amendments to the bill. That element was promoted strongly by Pelosi, who has made it clear she wants the bill passed unencumbered by the pet ideologies and projects of Congress members.
Another top agenda item for Pelosi is another shot at federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. President Bush vetoed the attempt last year - his only veto in six years - heeding Christian evangelists who oppose toying with what they regard as human life. Pelosi is hoping to build a veto-proof two-thirds majority this time around.
Hadassah, which has led lobbying for stem-cell research, was flying in at least 30 leaders to Washington this week for various inaugural events to make the case for passage .
Groups such as Hadassah, the Religious Action Center, JCPA and the United Jewish Communities are nonpartisan, but the Jewish emphasis on care for the elderly and poor have led to natural alliances with the Democrats on domestic and social issues.
A signal of that alliance was Pelosi's choice of Saperstein as one of only two speakers to launch three days of events marking her historic ascension as the first woman to be speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Pelosi wanted the first event - a Mass on Wednesday morning at her alma mater, Washington's Trinity University - dedicated to the child victims of Darfur and Hurricane Katrina.
Sources close to the Democratic leadership said that she views the US Jewish community as taking the lead in raising consciousness about the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, and she saw Saperstein as a natural for the event.
For its part, the UJC, the umbrella for the North American federation system, already has targeted new Congress members - about 50 Democrats and another dozen Republicans - with an outreach effort, offering to set up meetings and lay out the priorities for the nation's Jewish federations.
Those priorities include:
€ protection for Medicare and Medicaid funding;
€ continued homeland security funding for vulnerable Jewish institutions; and
€ financial backing for naturally occurring retirement communities, an effort to allow the elderly to age close to home. The UJC innovated the program, known as NORCs, which is now being replicated by other minority groups.
Such wish lists are bound to proliferate with an array of social activist groups, but Democrats say not to expect too much too soon.
Pelosi is committed to “pay as you go reforms” to counter what the Democrats believe was profligate spending by the Bush administration and by 14 years of the Republican-led Congress.
That means an end, for now, to earmarks for members' pet projects, which have been key in funding some Jewish-favored programs, including the NORCs and a program to streamline access to services by families who care for their elderly and infirm at home.
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