BUSH from page 21

JCPA officials discussed focusing on
foreign policy issues — including sup-
port and aid for Israel, traditionally a
bipartisan issue, and anti-terrorism
measures, Price said.
Still, JCPA and other Jewish groups
do not intend to abandon their issues,
only perhaps reprioritize.
On the domestic front, Price said
JCPA may focus on education issues,
an area Bush has set as a priority.
JCPA will seek more federal money
for education programs and more help
for failing schools.
United Jewish Communities, the New
York-based umbrella organization of local
federations and the central fund-raising
and social services agency for the North
American Jewish community, is also
carefully studying its own agenda and
attempting to match up what is most
workable with a Bush administration.
There are issues that Jewish groups
and Bush agree on, said Diana Aviv,
UJC's vice president of public policy.
Bush is sympathetic toward immi-
gration reform, for example, and UJC
would "be able to do business with
him," she said.
UJC has been a strong advocate of
restoring immigrant benefits that were
lost under welfare reform legislation in
1996 and of easing the process of
attaining legal status for undocument-
ed residents, including Jews from the
former Soviet Union.
Aviv also said her group would focus
on legislation providing prescription-
drug coverage for seniors because that is
an area Bush has indicated as a priority.
The issue is not as important to
UJC as other issues, such as home
health care for seniors, Aviv said, but
"we want to be practical and realistic."
There are still a lot of factors that need
to play out before a formal strategy
becomes clear for Jewish groups,
including Bush's appointment of cabi-
net positions and the remaining
actions of the lame-duck Congress.
The appointment of former mem-
bers of Congress who have good work-
ing relationships with Jewish organiza-
tions may help tailor the strategy for
dealing with the new administration.
Price said, for example, if Rep. Rick
Lazio (R-N.Y.) is named to head the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, JCPA may put more
focus on issues such as elderly housing.
In any case, few expect major initia-
tives in the early days of the new gov-
ernment.
"The mandate from the voters is to
do modest things and don't get carried
away with anything," said Munson,
the House committee staffer. El

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