January 29, 2001 Vol. 3, No. 45

This Week in Washington...

For more information, contact Reva Price, Washington Representative at rprice@thejcpa.org

Advise and Consent, cont’d: The Senate is poised to continue confirmation efforts this week. Full Senate consideration begins today on President Bush’s nomination of Gale Norton for Interior Secretary and Christine Todd Whitman for EPA administrator, moving on to the nomination of Elaine Chao as Labor Secretary on Tuesday. Having postponed action last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to try again on Wednesday to begin final consideration of the nomination of John Ashcroft to be Attorney General. A news conference/briefing has been scheduled for tomorrow by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to discuss introduction of legislation that would improve the methods used to conduct federal elections. The workweek will be a bit shorter to permit members to attend their respective party’s congressional retreats. This Thursday, February 1^st, President Bush is expected to attend the 49^th annual prayer breakfast.

Office of Faith Based Action: The President signed two executive orders this morning creating the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) and spelling out agency responsibilities with respect to faith based and community initiatives. The executive orders (which can be found at www.whitehouse.gov) spell out the role of the OFBCI to establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government’s comprehensive effort to enlist, equip, enable, empower, and expand the work of faith-based and other community organizations to the extent permitted by law. John J. DiIulio Jr. Professor at the University of Pennsylvania will direct the office and Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis will act as an advisor and liaison to faith based and community agencies. The office is expected to be up and running by February 20^th. Harvey Blitz, President of the Orthodox Union, Cheryl Halpern, National Chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition and Rabbi Abraham Twerski of the Gateway Rehab Center in Pittsburgh were among those in attendance at this morning’s announcement. The legislative package will go to Capitol Hill tomorrow and is expected to include enhanced "charitable choice" language. JCPA will be distributing more background on this new initiative tomorrow.

This Week in New York…

For more information, contact Benita Gayle-Almeleh, Senior Community Consultant at bga@thejcpa.org

The Scoop on Israel’s Prime Ministerial Election: The ADL has prepared an Israeli Election Primer, available at www.adl.org, that provides general information about the election as well as specific information about the two candidates and their political platforms.

Israel and the Media: The San Francisco JCRC undertook a systematic analysis of the San Francisco Chronicle's recent Middle East coverage and discovered problems that will be addressed in a meeting today with newspaper officials. Anyone interested in learning more about the JCRC's methodology and the results of the analysis should be contact dkahn@jcrc.org.

Earthquake in India: The international community has been responding to the situation in India where tens of thousands of people have been killed in last Friday's earthquake. Israel has sent an army mobile hospital along with 150 medical and health professionals to the affected area. A number of Jewish organizations have opened "mailboxes.". The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has such a mailbox; contributions marked Indian earthquake relief can be sent to the JDC, 711 Third Avenue, NY, NY 10017.

Plenum update: More than 250 delegates have already registered for the Plenum…Newly confirmed speakers include Ralph Neas, People for the American Way on the Supreme Court and Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights on Race and Criminal Justice. To be honored: Drs. Jack Kirshner, Carl Lyss and Steve Stone at Sunday’s 21^st Century Club Inaugural and Leadership Appeal, plus representatives of DOUBLE DIGIT communities. Is your community a member of this exclusive grouping? New on the program: a Town Hall meeting on Israel…an evening session on Religion in the Public Schools. Registered yet? Need info? Call 212-684-6950, ext. 200. Remember: our hotel bloc is guaranteed only through February 5^th!