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JAMES BESSER

Washington Correspondent

T

he Democratic administra-
tion and the Republican
Congress agree on precious
little these days, but they're
coming closer on the controversial
issue of charitable choice.
That's bad news for a number of
Jewish groups that claim charitable
choice programs, which expand the
ability of religious organizations to
provide federally funded social and
health services, will erode church-state
separation. But Orthodox Jewish
groups welcome the change, and say it
reflects a battle that is all but over.
In recent days President Bill
Clinton himself has joined the ranks
of Democrats giving at least a rhetori-
cal nod to charitable choice.
The President's shift came in a joint
statement with House Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-Ill.) announcing a biparti-
san agreement on the "new markets
and renewal communities" legislative
package. The goal of the proposal is to
encourage private-sector investment in
low-income communities.
But it includes a kicker: the pro-
gram would allow faith-based organi-
zations to qualify for substance-abuse
funding "on the same basis as other
non-profits, consistent with the 1996
Welfare Reform Act and the constitu-
tional line between church and state."
That fuzzy language worries
defenders of the church-state line.
"There's a lot of potentially good
things in the proposal, which is an
amalgam of Republican and
Democratic proposals," said Richard
Foltin, legislative director of the
American Jewish Committee. "But the
President's inclusion of charitable
choice is troubling."
Mark Pelavin, associate director of
the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism, said details about the pro-
posed charitable-choice language are
few. "I don't know if there even is
exact legislative language yet. But the
bipartisan inclusion of the concept is
very troubling."
But Orthodox groups praised
Clinton's apparent shift.
"If the initial announcement is the

direction the program will go in, we
will be supportive," said Nathan
Diament, director of the Orthodox
Union's Institute for.Public Affairs
(IPA). "As much as some in Congress
would like to pretend otherwise, there
is an emerging consensus in favor of
this. It's one of the few policy areas in
which leading Democrats and
Republicans agree."
He pointed out that Vice President
Al Gore, running for the White
House, has stated his support for the
general concept of charitable choice;
his rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush,
is a long-time supporter.
"Opponents have to get used to the
fact that this battle is basically over,"
Diament said.

Retaliatory Strike

Jewish lobbyists are working hard
against a congressional move to cut
aid to Israel as punishment for its con-
troversial sale of advanced radar planes
to China.
Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.),
chair of the House foreign operations
appropriations subcommittee, is still
threatening to hold up some $250
million in military aid, the amount of
the controversial AWACS sale, when
his panel marks up the aid bill in the
next two weeks.
Not only would the cut affect
Israel's military, it would serve as a
precedent for linking Israel's security
aid to policies unpopular in
Washington, a slippery slope pro-Israel
activists are scrambling to avoid.
This week, pro-Israel lobbyists, led
by the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, were out in force, trying
to persuade House appropriators that
linkage would undercut Israel's securi-
ty just as it is absorbing the costs of
the Lebanon pullout. And cutting aid
would unsettle U.S.-Israel relations as
the Israeli-Palestinian talks are nearing
another watershed.
Quiet diplomacy, not congressional
head-bashing, is the way to work out a
fair agreement on arms sales, the pro-
Israel lobbyists told lawmakers.
When the China issue erupted a
few months ago, many American
Jewish leaders were privately critical of

