Since President Clinton’s inauguration, much of the interaction between his administration and organized American Jewry has focused on the U.S.-Israel relationship.
This week, Jewish organizational leaders had one of their first opportunities to examine the administration’s domestic policies up close, and they were pleased at what they saw.
The opportunity came when top administration officials, including two Cabinet members, addressed a legislative policy conference here sponsored by the American Jewish Congress.
The 100-plus conference participants, who braved the “storm of the century” to get to Washington, got a chance to hear top policymakers discuss such hot topics as the administration’s new economic plan and its proposals for revamping the health care system.
The officials’ main theme was change, said Mark Pelavin, AJCongress Washington representative. “Not incremental change,” he added, “but a broad ambitious program.”
“The change they were talking about,” said AJCongress Executive Vice President Henry Siegman, “was on such a broad range of fronts — health care, welfare, the economy — that one begins to take seriously” the phrase “reinventing government.”
For the first time in over a decade, AJCongress finds itself on the same side as the incumbent administration on a range of domestic issues.
Jewish groups, for the most part, have hailed many of the administration’s early domestic policy decisions, such as the lifting of some restrictions on womens’ access to abortions and plans to seek increased support for social service programs.
What impressed AJCongress leaders the most at the conference, they said afterward, was the unified presentation of themes and ideas by the administration officials.
“I’ve dealt with other administrations,” said AJCongress President Robert Lifton, “and I’ve never seen as unified” a presentation. “It’s a great testament to the president.”
TALK OF MERGER WITH AJCOMMITTEE
Among those addressing the conference were Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros; Leon Panetta, director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Roger Altman, deputy secretary of the treasury.
Pelavin said that having two Cabinet secretaries, a deputy secretary and the OMB director speak to a group of 120 people “says a lot about the value of the Jewish community” to the Clinton administration.
Clinton received approximately 80 percent of the Jewish vote in November, a level of support that was noted by many of the speakers.
In her remarks Tuesday, Shalala focused on the need for both health care reform and welfare reform, two ideas that she linked.
She observed that one reason people stay on welfare is so that they could receive health care, a factor that would no longer be relevant once Hillary Rodham Clinton’s task force on health care produced a plan to change the system.
Welfare, the secretary said, would no longer be a permanent program but would become “transitional,” helping people in need for a limited period of time. The administration would create job training and support programs. Only the elderly and the disabled, she said, would be eligible to remain on welfare on a long-term basis.
Cisneros, who addressed the conference Monday, discussed incorporating “broader human themes” at HUD and the importance of building up a sense of community.
Panetta, who also spoke Monday, talked about the Clinton economic plan, stating that the economic stimulus package proposed by the president is necessary to “ensure a strong recovery.”
Although AJCongress shares many of the concerns of the new administration, Siegman said there are some issues on which they disagree.
He pointed to the Clinton position regarding the return of Haitian refugees and said the administration’s commitment to take forceful action to end Serbian atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina is not as strong as AJCongress would like.
Conference participants also discussed the possibility of merging with the American Jewish Committee, an idea that has been floated in recent months.
Lifton said he was “delighted” with the response to the idea so far. “It was a good beginning,” he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
