August 14, 2000 | Vol. 2, No. 28

This Week in Washington¼

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

The $64 Million (Plus) Question: On their return to Washington in early September, members of Congress will be faced with their annual dilemma: how to finish the appropriations process and adjourn for the year in just one month. Staring down the barrel of an October 6^th target adjournment date, members will have to deal with eleven spending bills requiring completion, six of which, conventional wisdom has it, carry "veto bait". The Senate plans to work a double shift, debating the China Trade bill (PNTR) during the day and finishing work on spending bills in the evening. Here is just a sampling of the issues at stake:

Foreign Operations Appropriations: Status - House and Senate conferees were unable to reconcile different versions of the bill before they adjourned for August recess. Legislators differ over general funding levels, debt relief and family planning assistance. The House version is currently $1.85 billion below President Clinton’s FY 2001 request, and the Senate version is $1.8 billion lower. Specific example: the Admission proposed $658 million for Refugee Assistance. This sum already envisions a reduction in overseas assistance, with particularly severe impact on Africa and resulting in a reduction in the number of refugees funded for admission to the US from 85,000 to as few as 76,000. Reduced funding levels would mean sharper declines in funding for overseas refugee protection and assistance, and many thousand fewer refugee admissions. Although the JCPA currently does not have policy on debt relief for third world countries, many of our member agencies support this initiative. The legislation does not currently have enough funds to support both debt relief and foreign aid, including aid to Israel. Follow-up –- Legislators should be urged to support the highest possible funding levels for the international affairs budget and to keep the family planning debate out of the appropriations process.

Labor, Health and Human Services and Education: Status -The largest of the spending bills, the $106.2 billion bill matches the Administration’s request, but here, there is a disagreement over priorities. Funds for new teachers and new school construction are very much in jeopardy. Follow-up – JCPA member agencies should contact legislators in support of funding new school construction and increasing the number of qualified teachers.

Commerce- Justice-State: Status- The Senate has yet to even begin full consideration of the measure. The bill reported out of Senate committee and the House bill both fall short of the Administration’s request for international peacekeeping and community policing funding. The Congress is considering appropriating approximately $500 million in peacekeeping funds, but that amount falls short of the US assessment to the UN by about $250 million. The absence of full timely payment of the US assessment could severely impact critical UN missions in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and elsewhere. Follow-up –- JCPA member agencies should make the case for funding for United Nations peacekeeping efforts with members of Congress.

Elsewhere in Washington: The Department of Education has announced the first "Building Better Schools Week" to promote safe, healthy and modern schools for America’s children. From August 21-26, 2000 the Department of Education will work with local schools, educators, parents and community leaders to draw attention to the need for school modernization renovation and repair following a recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics which notes that our schools need $127 billion in repairs. The full text of the report as well as more information for community participation in this endeavor can be found at www.ed.gov/inits/construction/. The Coalition on Human Needs is urging you to join their Labor Day 2000 effort to focus the nation’s attention on the need for a national jobs agenda which would help more low income persons take advantage of the strong economy. Materials can be found at www.chn.org .

This Week in New York…

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

JCPA Names New Exec Vice Chair: The Jewish Council for Public Affairs announced today that it has tapped Hannah Rosenthal, a former top official of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to lead the JCPA as Executive Vice Chair. She will assume the position in October. (See press release)

Techies, Take Note: The Ad Hoc Committee on Constitutional Freedoms in the Age of Cyber-Technology will be held on Monday, September 11^th. Speakers will include Jules Polonetsky, Chief Privacy Officer for DoubleClick Inc; Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Rachel Zenner, Hadassah’s Director of National American Affairs. Contact lmallin@thejcpa.org for more information…Mark your Calendars: JCPA’s Task Force and Board of Directors meetings in New York City October 29^th and 30^th…. Plenum 2001 in Washington, D.C. February 24 – 28^th.

Keep Us Posted: Member agencies and federations received information via 2 memoranda and a conference call regarding dealing with issues surrounding the selection of Sen. Lieberman as a vice-presidential candidate. If you have any questions regarding appropriate responses to issues which may emerge, please contact rprice@thejcpa.org or bga@thejcpa.org.