Jews and Blacks Unite to Support Foreign Aid

As Congress prepares to slash foreign aid, black and Jewish lawmakers are banding together with pro-Israel activists to pledge their support for assistance to Africa and the Middle East.

At the meeting here this week — the first of its kind during this Congress – – seven black legislators joined four Jewish lawmakers and a group of Jewish activists to elicit their support for African aid and to pledge their support for continued aid to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In an invitation declaring that “foreign aid to Africa is now threatened as never before,” Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) requested the presence of Jewish activists at Wednesday’s session.

“It is my hope that we can continue our historic alliance and save this vital program,” Hastings wrote in the invitation.

And that’s exactly the pledge the Congressional Black Caucus leader received.

“We need to work hard to keep the foreign aid package as large as possible,” said Jess Hordes, Washington director of the Anti-Defamation League. “This is a natural issue for us to work together on.”

African nations together received about $800 million in foreign assistance this year. In the same package, Israel and Egypt received more than $5 billion, with some aid also designated for Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Although there has been much talk of reducing foreign aid, key lawmakers have pledged that aid for the Middle East will not be cut.

At the same time, aid to Africa rests squarely on the chopping block, setting up the possibility that a rift over aid could develop between blacks and Jews later in the process.

When Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, outlined his position on foreign aid in December, he proposed 20 percent across-the-board cut in foreign aid, excluding only the Middle East and Europe.

In fact, McConnell’s plan called for an increase in aid to the Middle East by $100 million to allow for flexibility to support the peace process.

Last year the Congressional Black Caucus supported the foreign aid bill in record numbers.

But according to a congressional aide to one of the back lawmakers who attended the hour-long session, that support will continue only if the 1996 foreign aid package includes aid to Africa.

“I can assure you that the votes will not be there for aid to Israel if there is no aid to Africa,” said the aide.

“There’s no way that my boss can go back to the district and defend giving Israel $3 billion if Africa gets little or nothing.”

Jewish lawmakers also acknowledged the potential for a rift, this time from the pro-Israel perspective.

“When push comes to shove, if the foreign aid bill includes Israel’s $3 billion, we’re going to vote for it,” at aide to one Jewish congressman said, suggesting that Jewish legislators would vote for such a bill, regardless of whether aid to Africa is included.

Despite the potential for divisiveness over the issue, the emphasis at this week’s meeting was on working together.

And even though a recent flare of tensions between black and Jewish lawmakers over differing positions regarding federal contracts to security firms linked to the Nation of Islam, this week’s meeting was widely described as friendly.

Black and Jewish lawmakers began to meet on a regular basis during the last Congress to discuss areas where they could cooperate.

“Together we have over 50 votes when we agree. That’s a significant voting block,” said an aide to a black lawmaker who attended the session.

At the meeting, the group of lawmakers and activists decided to seek the support of African American civil rights organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League, to support aid to Africa.

Hastings plans to send a letter to these activists asking them to throw their weight behind African aid, an aide said.

In addition to ADL, representatives from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism and the World Jewish Congress attended the session.

The Jewish members of Congress who attended the session were: Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).

The black members were Reps. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), Al Wynn (D-Md.), Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), William Jefferson (D-La.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Donald Payne (D-N.J.), also attended the meeting.