BUDGET CUTS page 111 budget will remain hopelessly out of reach. The president's proposal rep- resents only the opening move in a legislative chess game that will be shaped to a considerable de- gree by the Republican-led Con- gress. The coming months will see the sharpest exchanges yet over exactly which programs to cut the most, and which groups of constituents will feel the brunt of the pain. Welfare programs, already slashed by last year's welfare re- form bill, are almost certain to be pared back even more. Jewish ac- tivists helped avert big cuts in subsidized housing for the elder- ly in the last Congress; this time, the battle will be harder. Efforts to help Medicare and Medicaid survive into the next century will — at the very least — result in diminished services, higher costs and new problems for service providers. Jewish leaders are far from panicking, but they see a ripple effect in the offing. Cuts in ser- vices will throw more clients into the arms of Jewish agencies just as those agencies face declining federal grants. Jewish organizations • fared better than some observers pre- dicted after the Republican rev- olution of 1994. '.."'mr" • This Tu B'Shevat you could make a difference... Plant a tree in the Negev. This Tu B'Shevat, help realize the miracle of planting trees in the desert. Trees benefit the Negev in so many ways: they raise the underground water table, provide shade and purify the air. Through its afforestation program, JNF has proven to the world that the desert can be a region of growth and renewal. To plant trees, call 1-800-542-TREE "We're not giving up our effort ... but we're realistic." ...or call your local JNF office. JEWISH NATIONAL FUND JEWISH 11A11011AL FUI1D 17100 W. 10 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075 (810) 557-6644 Kase stuff today. reduce tomorrow. mum slot today. redo tWorrow. mse reduce garbage tomorrow. reuse stuff today. reduce reduce OITOM. educe reuse tomorrow. muse stuff today. reduce garbage/ tomorrow.,../ Eat aft the jetfy 2. INVAA 3. Apt woh j &k eriany neW THE DETROI T JEWISH NEWS Preserve Nature You can do more than you think. ACTION PLAX NE6 IV — Arthur Abramson The Comparison Shopper buys at HARPER Furniture 916 N. Main Royal Oak (N. of 11 Mile Rd.) 545-3600 For more ideas on reusing and reducing, call: 1-800-9WI LD LIFE Reese &tuft to la Red p tomorrow National Audubon Society 41EPA LIBRARY BOOKSTORE 545:4300 en 7 Days Books Bought 1st Your lionLe Semplkiier , "First, there was a lot of wish- ful thinking that it was all just talk, and that nothing would re- ally change," said an official with a major Jewish group. "Then, we panicked; there was a feeling that our communal structure might crash down in ruins. "What really happened was somewhere in between; we are seeing significant problems re- sulting from the budget cuts, but we are coping better than most of us expected. In many ways, the community has really risen to the challenge." Jewish groups will continue to cope in the months to come by moving simultaneously on three fronts. In Washington, organizations such as the Council of Jewish Federations will continue to ad- vocate on behalf of endangered social safety net programs, and press for moderation when Con- gress and the administration ad- dress the big three entitlements — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.. Changes in Medicaid, in particular, could have a dra- matic impact_on Jewish hospi- tals, nursing homes, mental health clinics and services for the elderly. At the same time, Jewish groups are becoming more active at the state and local levels as fed- eral programs are turned over to the states, and as smaller local programs try to make up for fed- eral service cuts. "The focus has shifted very much to the state level, where a lot of the decisions about services will now be made," said Arthur Abramson, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council. "We're not giving up our effort to get the welfare and immigration regulations changed at the fed- eral level, but we're realistic; we're begirming to focus on dealing with the consequences of federal de- cision-making." The object of that activity is to make sure critical Jewish popu- lations — the elderly, the infirm, the incapacitated, immigrants — continue to receive vital services. And Jewish groups are push- ing harder to develop alternative funding sources, both govern- mental and philanthropic, for ser- vices that face decreasing federal contributions. Jewish leaders concede that their organizations have to be- come far more efficient as feder- al money dries up and as the demand for services increases. But even as it becomes more ef- ficient, the Jewish communal world needs to expand to meet the increased demand created by big federal cutbacks. Managing that combination — more and bigger programs, but also more efficient ones, with more diverse funding sources — will be a bureaucratic high-wire act for Jewish leaders. Jewish groups need to become more politically pragmatic. As the 105th Congress convenes, there are indications that this change is well under way. Two years ago, Jewish activists responded to the arrival of the Gingrich Congress by resisting the concept of deficit reduction as a top national priority; in 1997, many now accept the inevitabili- ty of a smaller and less active gov- ernment, especially as the Clinton administration seeks a bipartisan consensus on deficit reduction. The key, Jewish leaders agree, will be to work with leaders of both parties to get the best deal for America's neediest popula- tions, and for vulnerable groups of Jews in particular. The real story of the second Clinton administration may be the growing bipartisanship of the balanced budget movement. Giv- en that reality, Jewish groups that stubbornly cling to big-gov- ernment liberalism will be squan- dering resources. Instead, as many Jewish lead- ers have concluded in recent months, they need to participate in the movement for fiscal restraint — and bring to it their traditional commitment to fair- ness and a compassionate government. ❑