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I'
Differences Over Budget Deficit
Threaten U.S. Aid To Israel
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
T
wo unrelated issues
threatened Israel's $3
billion in economic
and military aid last week.
One issue involved
differences between the
White House and Congress
over the federal budget
deficit.
When sequestration under
the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings deficit reduction
law took effect on October
16, pro-Israel activists joined
most of official Washington
in assuming that Congress
would ultimately work out a
budget reconciliation
package to bring the federal
budget in line with the law's
requirements — at least on
paper.
If this happened, it was
considered highly unlikely
that Congress would break
the "earmark" that protects
Israel's $3 billion in U.S.
aid. Sequestration, on the
other hand, would force
across-the-board cuts that
could slash up to $159
million from.Israel's
economic and military aid.
However, instead of accep-
ting a compromise plan, the
administration seems will-
ing to allow the automatic
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings
cuts to become permanent.
Said one top pro-Israel ac-
tivist, "They lost on capital
gains — and now they're in
the mood to be tough. And
there is not much we can do
about it; this is not an issue
we can really lobby on."
The second issue concerns
the debate over abortion.
The same bill contains pro-
visions restoring U.S. fun-
ding for a controversial
United Nations population
fund — provisions introduc-
ed by Maryland Senator
Barbara Mikulski. President
George Bush has promised a
veto, which would send the
entire tangled measure back
to Congress.
Few observers expect driy
tampering with foreign aid if
the bill goes back to the Hill.
But the controversy has
added one more element of
uncertainty to a process in
which stable levels of aid to
Israel look less and less like
a sure thing.
Compromise Proposal
Eases Refugee Status
Only a month after new
refugee policies affecting
Soviet Jews went into effect
in Moscow, Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., and
Rep. Bruce Morrison, D-
Conn., have hammered out a
compromise version of
legislation designed to make
it easier for Soviet Jews to
prove refugee status.
The Morrison proposal
would have restored the
automatic presumption of
refugee status for Soviet
Jews. Before changes in
Immigration and
Naturalization Service poli-
cies last year, Soviet Jews
were automatically granted
the more favorable refugee
status. The Lautenberg ver-
sion sought to make it easier
to claim refugee status,
without restoring the
automatic presumption
feature.
What emerged from com-
mittee was a little of each.
The bill will facilitate the
granting of refugee status to
Soviet Jews, Evangelicals
and Ukrainian. Catholics.
Under the compromise, the
burden of proof has shifted
back to the government;
under changes instituted
last year, Soviet Jews them-
selves had to prove that they
were fleeing persecution.
The bill also includes re-
quirements for a major
government study of the en-
tire refugee processing issue
— a major victory for Soviet
Jewry activists.
In practical terms, the bill
will have little immediate
effect on the thousands of
Soviet Jews seeking entry
into this country; the bill
does not raise refugee ceil-
ings or provide additional
funding for resettlement.
AJC Defends Indian's
Use Of Peyote
The American Jewish
Congress went out on a limb
last week in defense of the
right of Native Americans to
use peyote as part of their
sacraments.
The AJCongress joined
other mainline religious
groups on the steps of the
Supreme Court to highlight
the case of Alfred Smith, a
70-year-old native American
who was fired from his job as
a counselor for the Oregon
Council on Alcoholism and
Drug Abuse Prevention
after admitting that he had
used peyote as part of his
religious rites.
Despite the Oregon
Supreme Court decision that
Smith's use of the
hallucinogenic drug was
protected by the "free exer-
cise" clause, the state's at-
torney general persisted.
Now the Supreme Court is
due to review the whole
issue of what protections can
be offered to the Native
American church — and, by
implication, to other
religious groups.
The AJCongress has filed
an amicus brief in the
matter. Said Mark Pelavin,
the group's Washington rep-
resentative, "What's so
striking in this case is that
the practice is really at the
center of the religion.
Without the peyote, there IS
no Native American
religion."
4
Jew Named
To DNC Post
The Democratic National
Committee continues to pat-
ch up relations with the
Jewish community — and
especially with big Jewish
contributors. The latest
move in that direction is the
expected naming of Monte
Friedkin, a Jewish busi-
nessman from Florida who
organized the recent gala
Democratic fundraiser in
Washington, as the party's
finance chairman.
Friedkin has been active
in pro-Israel political action
4