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November 6, 1998/ 17 Cheshvan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 7
Elections unlikely to change priorities of Congress
DANIEL KURTZMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
In a normal year, the political discourse following a midterm election would be dominated by debate of the key issues facing lawmakers as they look ahead to a new legislative session. But these are not normal times. After a brief hiatus that saw most congressional candidates engaging voters on an array of pressing and topical "non-Monica" issues, lawmakers are getting ready to return to the business foremost in the minds of most in the Washington establishment - presidential impeachment proceedings.
The results of the Nov. 3 elections, in which Democrats gained two seats in the U.S. Senate and held their own in the House, will likely take much of the steam out of Republicans' drive to impeach President Clinton. But for now, with little evidence showing any significant change in the power balance in Washington, most political observers anticipate that the 106th Congress will, by and large, hold the status quo. Which is to say it will probably be a Congress that will confound Jewish activists more often than not.
Indeed, since the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, most Jewish activists working in the domestic arena on Capitol Hill have been devoting most of their energies to damage control, trying to block or mitigate various policy initiatives. In the wake of Tuesday's election, there is little to suggest that will change. The 105th Congress concluded its work under the dome with more unfinished business than any Congress in recent memory - and late in the session the Republican leadership shelved much of its agenda until next year, hoping to seize new momentum to push it forward.
The unfinished business of particular interest to Jewish activists includes banning so-called partial-birth abortion procedures, various school voucher initiatives and tax breaks to support private or parochial education. It also includes a continued reassessment of immigration policy and immigrant benefits, as well as a restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. For most Jewish activists, that portends another round dominated by defensive and reactive lobbying, rather than pushing forward an affirmative agenda.
"There are always proactive issues, but it certainly has been the case" over the last few years "that we have had to run to put out fires, whether it's on church-state issues, or the education agenda or civil rights," said Richard Foltin, legislative director and counsel for the American Jewish Committee. Most activists anticipate a return to many of the same battlefields, particularly on the church-state front, where they say countering the agenda of the Christian Coalition and other religious conservatives will continue to be a top priority. But "there's still room, if we pick our fights carefully, to make some positive advances," said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
It's unknown what impact if any the fate of Jews within Congress will have on the process. The number of Jews serving in the 106th Congress will shrink from 25 to 23, even though only one Jewish incumbent, Rep. Jon Fox (R-Pa.), lost his seat, and three new Jewish representatives were elected in Tuesday's House elections - Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). Reps. Sidney Yates (D-Ill.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.) retired. Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) resigned to run, successfully, for the Senate. And Rep. Steven Schiff (R-N.M.) died in office. The U.S. Senate will have a record number of Jews - 11 - after Schumer defeated incumbent Sen. Alfonse D'Amato.
Jewish voters across the United States overwhelmingly voted for Democratic candidates by a 78 percent to 21 percent margin. In New York's hotly contested Senate race, Jewish voters supported Schumer over D'Amato by 77 percent to 23 percent. In California, 82 percent of Jewish voters supported Sen. Barbara Boxer, compared to 18 percent for Matt Fong, the Republican candidate.
Although Jewish activists often disagree about which issues should concern the community most - and occasionally take opposing sides on the issues themselves - some of the anticipated fights on domestic policy in the next Congress include crafting a new law to restore the broadest possible protections for religious liberty; giving low-income students vouchers to pay tuition costs at private or religious schools; saving Social Security; passing a patient's bill of rights; and strengthening hate crime laws. Activists are also expected to push for laws protecting abortion rights; providing additional education and social-service block grant funding to the states; expanding tax-free savings accounts for public and private-school expenses; revamping the way the nation's campaigns are financed; and protecting the rights of religious minorities in the workplace.
In the international arena, the Middle East peace process is expected to pose new challenges, particularly as the May 4, 1999, deadline for completing final-status talks approaches. Funding for U.S.-Israel cooperation in ballistic missiles defense and for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will likely come up for debate. But first lawmakers are expected to determine how much aid to allocate to the Palestinians for economic support and to Israel for troop redeployment in the West Bank as part of the interim peace accord signed in Washington last month.
Efforts to contain Iran as it seeks weapons of mass destruction will continue to be a focal point, as will the State Department's newly established function of monitoring religious persecution abroad. All of this will play out against a backdrop of presidential electioneering as both parties jockey for position for the 2000 campaign.
"There's going to be a very small window of time to actually get things done," said Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs. "Once the presidential cycle kicks in, everything that goes on the Hill is just going to be a function of presidential politics, which probably makes it likely that compromise will not be the word of choice."
Daniel Kurtzman writes from Washington, D.C.
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