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June 18, 2001 Vol. 3, No. 17 This Week in Washington... For more information, contact Reva Price, Washington Representative at rprice@thejcpa.org ILSA Needs Your Help: The House International Relations Committee is set to mark up the Iran Libya Sanctions Act Extension Act of 2001 (HR1954) this Wednesday. The initiative currently has 235 House co-sponsors. Rep. Ron Paul (TX) intends to offer an amendment that would reduce ILSA’s renewal from five to two years. It is critical that committee members understand that a shortened renewal would be perceived as a victory for the Iranian and Libyan governments as both continue to develop weapons and threaten other Middle Eastern nations. JCPA member agencies are urged to contact members of the International Relations Committee urging a "no" vote on the Paul amendment. For more information on ILSA, see JCPA’s May 21, 2001 memo, "Israel Solidarity Action Package. Contact Reva Price (202-293-1649) for a full roster of committee members. Eye on FBI: The House Ways and Means Committee may begin mark up work on the Community Solutions Act (HR7) as early as this week. The Committee heard testimony on faith-based and community initiatives last week from a wide variety of agencies, including the UJC and OU. The proposed legislation, which includes incentives for charitable giving (which JCPA supports) as well as efforts to broaden "charitable choice", will likely be marked up soon by the House Judiciary Committee. On the Senate side, Sen. Santorum (PA) will be joined by former Senator Harris Wofford (also of PA) at a press conference tomorrow to announce creation of a broad, bi-partisan working group to search for common ground regarding faithbased and community initiatives. The goals of the working group will be to define the terms of the debate on expanding the role of faith-based and other community organizations. More than two dozen participants make up the working group, including such well-known JCPA players as Rabbi David Saperstein (RAC) and Richard Foltin (AJCommittee). Look for more information in this publication after the announcement of the committee is official.
Healthy, Wealthy and….Wise? The Senate is set to begin work this week on a Patients Bill of Rights. JCPA adopted its position in June 1998 endorsing legislation which ensures adequate, affordable, accessible health care coverage consistent with JCPA’s Health Care Principles adopted in June 1993. (see www.jewishpublicaffairs.org, resolutions – equal opportunity and social justice for more specifics)…After work on health care is completed, the Senate will likely move on to legislation increasing the minimum wage. The Minimum Wage Act of 2001 (S196/HR665) would raise the minimum wage by $1.50 in three increments over two and a half years. Approximately 11.9 million workers (9.9% of the workforce) would benefit from this increase. In 1998, JCPA enacted a resolution supporting such an increase, noting that "the federal government has a primary responsibility for alleviating poverty and for ensuring conditions that allow families to move from poverty to economic self-sufficiency. This includes the guarantee of a minimum wage sufficient to allow families to support themselves. The JCPA believes that the promise of America, and the demand for a decent family life for all, requires prompt passage of legislation to raise the minimum wage." Communities are urged to contact their Senators to support this legislation…. Look for a Thursday press conference with Sen. Dodd (CT) and other coalition partners announcing support by more than 50 Senators of the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act (S565/HR1170). The bill mirrors closely principles articulated by the JCPA in its February 2001 Resolution on Election Reform. (see www.jewishpublicaffairs.org, resolutions – equal opportunity and social justice for more specifics) For background information, check http://makeelectionsfair.org . …June 20th marks the first-ever World refugee Day. Coalition partners will mark the day by asking that communities call members of Congress to request support for immigrant access to health and nutrition assistance. 3 bills are under consideration under the heading of "Healthy Solutions for America’s Families: The Nutrition Assistance for Working Families and Seniors Act (S583/HR2142); THE Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (S582/HR 1143); and the Women Immigrant’s Safe Harbor Act, which will be introduced shortly. Member agencies are urges to participate in this campaign. More information is available from the JCPA Washington Office.
This Week in New York… For more information, contact Benita Gayle-Almeleh, Director of Community Relations and Special Projects at bga@thejcpa.org
Israel Update: At its June 11 meeting in NY, the JCPA Board of Directors issued a statement encouraging "all American Jews to visit Israel in the very near future as an expression of their solidarity with the people and the land of Israel." This followed impassioned appeals by Israeli Consul General Alon Pinkas and JCPA Chair Leonard Cole to make travel to Israel the highest priority at this time. In addition to the annual leadership mission to Israel scheduled for October 22-29, 2001, the JCPA also will be working with its member agencies to build support for a large UJC solidarity mission to Israel scheduled for September 9-14, 2001. Sponsoring a "mission within this UJC mission," the JCPA, as it did last December, will develop a special program suited for CRC representatives as well as non-Jewish friends of Israel. For more information contact mraffel@thejcpa.org.
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