Powell will also visit Egypt,
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel
and areas under the Palestinian
Authority. In Cairo, he will have his
first meeting with Russiau Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov.

Saving For School

A move in Congress to provide "edu-
cation savings accounts" (ESA) for
parents could be a way for lawmakers
to end-run the far touchier issue of
school vouchers. But a number of
Jewish groups active on the church-
state front are already lined up to
oppose the ESA push, despite what
appears to be strong bipartisan sup-
port.
A measure introduced in the Senate
late last week by Sen. Robert G.
Torricelli (D-N.J.) and Sen. Tim
Hutchinson (R-Ark.) would let par-
ents contribute $2,000 every year to
tax-free education savings accounts.
The money could then be used by
public school parents for computers or
tutoring, or by parochial and private
school parents for tuition and other
expenses.
The plan doesn't go as far as an ESA
plan that will be included in President
Bush's set of education initiatives,
which would allow parents to put
away up to $5,000 per year per child.
Some Democratic backers see ESAs
as a more acceptable alternative to
school vouchers. But a coalition of
Jewish groups are ready to fight the
plan — as they fought two ESA bills
passed by Congress in recent years but
vetoed by former President Bill
Clinton.
"There may be a legal argument that
this is different from vouchers, but the
-policy issues are the same," said
Richard Foltin, legislative director for
the American Jewish Committee.
. The Anti-Defamation League and
the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism are also expected to oppose
the plan.
Marc Stern, legal director for the
American Jewish Congress, said the
revived proposal "will benefit mostly
the richest segment of society. Nobody
else will be able to put away enough
money, for a long enough time, to
make the interest worth very much."
The real benefit of the ESA program
is the untaxed interest paid on savings;
lower-income families, he said, will get
no benefit from it.
But the Orthodox Union and
Agudath Israel of America back the
ESA concept.
"It provides welcome tax relief for

parents who struggle mightily to send
their children to private schools," said
Abba Cohen, Agudah's Washington
representative.
He discounted claims that ESAs
represent a threat to church-state sep-
aration. "It's a modest effort simply
to provide equity to private school
children and their families," said
Cohen, who added that it will be
"easier to sell the ESA idea to
Congress. The concept already exists
on the higher education level — and
it makes good sense."

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Moscow Favorites

The government of Russian President
Vladimir Putin continues to show
troubling signs that its commitment to
pluralism and religious freedom is
weak, at best.
This week, NCSJ, a Washington-
based group that works on behalf of
Jews in the former Soviet Union,
was huddling with Bush administra-
tion officials. Their goal: to make
sure the new foreign policy team is
assertive in protecting the rights of
Jews in Russia.
In addition to its criminal pursuit of
Russian Jewish Congress President
Vladimir Gousinsky on fraud charges,
Putin's government is increasingly
meddling in internal Jewish affairs in
Russia, said Mark Levin, NCSJ's exec-
utive director. -
"There is an intensifying pattern of
trying to determine who will represent
the Jewish community before the gov-
ernment," Levin said this week.
An example of that interference
came when the Putin government
pressed Gennady Chazanov — a the-
ater personality and comedian — not
to accept a position with Keroor, a
religious umbrella group representing
both Reform and Orthodox congrega-
tions in Russia, Levin said.
The problem: Keroor is affiliated
with the Russian Jewish Congress, a
group Putin has been doing his best to
discourage.
Chazanov, after a talking-to by
authorities, declined the post.
_Authorities also searched Moscow's,
Choral synagogue for papers dealing
with the group.
And Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt,
the chief rabbi of Moscow, was not
able to get the usual one-year exten-
sion of his visa until recently.
Levin said the new administration
has been responsive to the group's con-
cerns; Israeli authorities, as well, are
trying to get the message across to
Moscow.

❑

Bill Nagler, M.D.

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