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Jackson-Vanik Waiver Rumors
Agitating Soviet Jewry Groups
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
W
ashington con
tinues to seethe
with rumors about
a possible Jackson-Vanik
waiver for the Soviet Union.
Early last week, Soviet
Jewry activists were in an
uproar over reports that the
President Bush was about to
announce a waiver as part of
his response to new Soviet
arms initiatives. In fact, Bush
called for an easing of trade
restrictions only if additional
conditions are met — a posi-
tion that echoed the cautious
approach of the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry.
But even after Bush's
foreign policy speech, there
were persistent hints that the
administration welcomes the
current flurry of debate
"Almost everyone involved is
edging closer to a waiver,"
said one top Soviet Jewry ac-
ft A KU Ni
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President Bush:
Won't east trade — yet.
tivist, "but nobody wants to
be on the leading edge."
Earlier, former Rep. Charles
Vanik, co-author of the
amendment, spoke out in
favor of a waiver before a U.S.-
Soviet trade group. And Rep.
Edward Feighan, (D-Ohio),
created a stir when he
published an op-ed article
urging a waiver — the first
member of Congress to call
for a waiver in unequivocal
terms.
Curiously, speculation
about the precarious state of
Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev's leadership has
been used as ammunition by
both sides of the debate.
"People are beginning to
take seriously the possibility
that Gorbachev might not be
in power forever," said Micah
Naftalin, national director of
the Union of Council of Soviet
Jews. "That's all the more
reason to hold off waiving
Jackson-Vanik until they
Mikhail Gorbachev:
Are his days numbered?
revise their laws and make
free emigration a matter of
basic rights."
But others argue that a
waiver would give Gorbachev
the economic boost he needs
to fend off forces in that coun-
try that would like to put a
brake on reform.
"It's important for us to res-
pond positively to changes in
Soviet behavior," said Steve
Silbiger, Washington
representative for the
American Jewish Congress, a
group that has endorsed a
waiver. "The American
Jewish community, which
correctly remains skeptical of
Arafat, demands deeds, not
words from the PLO. At the
same time, Gorbachev is giv-
ing us deeds, in terms of a
record number of Soviet Jews
— and we're saying it's not
good enough until he gives us
the words. It violates basic
common sense."
Some activists worry that
the intensifying debate may
snatch the initiative on
Jackson-Vanik away from the
Jewish community.
"Th an extent, a lot of this
pressure to waive is coming
from inside the Jewish com-
munity," said one top Soviet
Jewish activist here. "Some
people are worried that we
may act too quickly, and lose
our leverage; others are wor-
ried that we'll act too slowly,
and lose control of the issue.
But the debate is spilling over
into the secular community —
particuiarly in Congress."
School Prayer
Opponents Face
New Challenge
Opponents of school prayer
received a jolt last week when
a routine bill unexpectedly
became a vehicle for an
amendment prohibiting local
jurisdictions that receive
vocational education money
from banning voluntary
school prayer.
And now there are concerns
that the amendment, offered
by Rep. William E. Dan-
nemeyer, (R-Calif.), was only
the first salvo in a renewed
battle by House and Senate
conservatives to attach
school-prayer language to a
handful of education-related
bills.
Dannemeyer introduced his
amendment with no advance
warning as the vocational
education re-authorization
bill was being debated before
the full House.
The bill passed by a wide
margin. "We didn't exactly
see 'profiles in courage' on the
House floor," said Melanne
Verveer, vice-president of Peo-
ple for the American Way, the
group that maintains sharp
vigilance on the church-state
front. "This is almost certain-
ly an unconstitutional
measure; if we don't stop it in
Congress, there will probably
be court challenges."
Already, a number of
Jewish groups are mobilizing
to resist any attempt by the
Senate to match the House
version, including the
American Jewish Congress
and the American Jewish
Committee.
Census Reform
Still Floundering
In The House
Last year's proposal to clear
up major gaps in Census
Bureau procedures, a major
issue for Jewish groups last
year, appears bogged down in
the House.
And with time running out
before the national head
count in 1990, activists who
worked energetically for the
measures, sponsored by Rep.
Mervyn Dymally, (D-Calif.),
are expressing their
frustration.
"Primarily, we are concern-
ed about undercounts of
minorities in five key states,"
said one Jewish activist who
has worked on the issue. "In
New York, Florida, Illinois,
Texas and California, there is
a real possibility that the
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