Community Greets Economic Plan with Delight and Some Uncertainty

The organized Jewish community is greeting President Clinton’s economic plan, unveiled with great fanfare here this week, with expressions of delight tinged with a bit of uncertainty.

Jewish organizational leaders are hailing Clinton’s support for various social services and other domestic programs that were gutted during the Reagan and Bush administrations.

But they are concerned about the future of foreign aid to countries such as Israel and Russia, in a political climate geared more toward helping those at home than those abroad.

Figures released by the White House indicate that foreign aid programs will be cut back sharply. At the State Department, spokesman Joe Snyder said Thursday that the budget for fiscal years 1994 through 1997 would include over $2.3 billion in “outlay savings” in international affairs programs.

Sources in the pro-Israel community point out that Clinton and Vice President Al Gore have gone on record supporting a continuation of the $3 billion in aid given annually to Israel. But they also note that proposed foreign aid cutbacks make the entire foreign aid program more vulnerable.

Also unclear is the future of the new Voice of America radio transmitter planned for Israel’s Negev desert. Funding for the Board for International Broadcasting will be cut by $644 million over the next five years, which leads some to believe that the transmitter could be among the items eliminated.

The transmitter has been controversial with some in Israel and in the U.S. Congress having expressed concern over its environmental impact.

‘WHAT WE’VE HEARD. WE LIKE’

On the domestic side, the plan calls for a greater focus on many programs supported by the Jewish community, such as full funding for the Head Start educational program and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, as well as an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit plan assisting poor working families.

Jewish federations around the country provide a host of social service programs that would benefit from these Clinton proposals.

Sammie Moshenberg, Washington representative for the National Council of Jewish Women, proclaimed herself “delighted” with Clinton’s support of the three social service programs.

“We’ve worked on this for many years,” she said, adding that the programs are “very important. We’re very excited about the whole thing.”

She said she was eager to see the list of the 50 specific budget cuts that Clinton said he would make But, she added, “what we’ve heard, we like.”

Similarly, the American Jewish Congress issued a statement applauding what it called “Clinton’s comprehensive proposals to revitalize the economy through investments to serve the needy, tax increases and spending cuts.”

“The new direction proposed by President Clinton is a significant attempt to attack basic problems long affecting American society,” the group said.

“We especially appreciate the president’s reaffirmation of the notion that government must be an active force for helping the poor and nearpoor.”

The National Jewish Coalition, a Republican group, was decidedly less enthusiastic.

In a statement, the group’s executive director, Matt Brooks, said the coalition is “prepared to give President Clinton the benefit of the doubt on his economic program.”

But he added, “This program seems like nothing else but a traditional Democratic tax and spend economic program.”

However, the National Jewish Democratic Council, a group that encourages Jewish participation in Democratic politics, argued that the plan as a whole is “balanced, reasonable and forward looking.”

Steve Gutow, the group’s executive director, said in a statement that Clinton “has shown us how he would realistically trim the budget deficit in the long run, while combating unemployment in the short run.”