March 20, 2001 Vol. 3, No. 5

This Week in Washington...

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

Campaign Finance Reform, At Last? The Senate is expected to spend the next two weeks debating campaign finance reform legislation.  At the core of the debate is the "McCain-Feingold" bill which would ban large, unregulated soft money contributions to political parties and would also limit the ability of corporations and unions to run issue advertisements which identify candidates near to Election Day.  Of interest: the campaign finance reform resolution enacted by the 2001 Plenum which can be found at our website at www.jewishpublicaffairs.org.

Money Matters! The House Budget Committee will "markup" the fiscal 2002 budget resolution on Wednesday.  In addition, the House Ways and Means committee will hold a Wednesday hearing on the next installment of the President's tax package with goal of a markup by week’s end. Hate Crimes Re-Do: Legislators are readying a new version of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. 37 Senators have already indicated they will serve as original sponsors of the legislation.  Is your Senator is on board? Contact JCPA Washington Representative Reva Price for an up-to-the-minute listing.

Calling All Immigration Activists: Washington-based immigration groups will be convening monthly "share-the cost" conference calls which will update participants on legislative developments and allow groups from around the country to ask questions and provide input regarding legislation and activities.  Mark your calendars: the next call will take place on Friday, March 23, 2001 at 1pm E.S.T.  Contact rprice@thejcpa.org for more information.

Baruch Habah: Israel's new prime minister Ariel Sharon met yesterday with senior administration officials, and will meet today with President Bush. His principal objective is to win U.S. understanding and support for the manner in which Israel is seeking to deal with the violence.  For example, Sharon has resisted handing over tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority; administration officials have expressed concern about that policy.  In addition, the problem of Iraq will be discussed as well.  Sharon addressed the AIPAC Policy Conference yesterday and will be in New York on Wednesday, for a reception hosted by the Presidents Conference and Israel Bonds, before returning to Israel.

"Everywhere You Go, You See Faith Based Initiative":  As noted in yesterday’s New York Times, JCPA Executive Director Hannah Rosenthal teased Dr. John Dilulio, Jr., Director of the White House Office on Faith Based and Community Initiatives last week about the amount of attention the new Bush initiative is receiving.  A full transcript of the program, which also featured Sarah Melendez on The Independent Sector, can be found on the Religious Action Center's Website at www.rac.org. Look for more on the Rosenthal-Dilulio exchange of "ten top questions" about this initiative shortly. This week will prove to be no different, with attention turning to Capitol Hill.  Midweek, expect Senators Santorum (PA) and Lieberman (CT) to introduce legislation which would allow non-itemizing taxpayers (70% of those filing) to deduct charitable contributions. The bill is also expected to include a proposal to create individual development accounts, special matched savings accounts that would encourage low income people to save for a home, a college education or the startup costs of a small business. On the House side, Representatives Watts (OK) and Hall (OH) plan to introduce a bill which includes the charitable tax deduction provision as well as and expands charitable choice to allow federal dollars to go directly to pervasively sectarian institutions that provide government services without protections against religious discrimination or proselytization.