Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1992 Page: 4 of 24
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4 TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, OCTOBER 15, 1992-IN OUR 46TH YEAR!
Washington Watch
Eerie Calm Hits Washington:
Washington, after the end of a
congressional session, is like a de-
flated balloon. For weeks, the pres-
sure builds as legislators race to
finish all the controversial legisla-
tion they had been putting off; sleep-
ing bags appear in the House and
Senate office buildings, and there
is a certain emotional quality remi-
niscent of a madhouse.
And then—in a deflation you
can almost hear—adjournment, and
an eerie calm.
Washington entered that strange
season last week, after marathon
sessions in the House and Senate
and a frantic race to leave town in
time to get in some last-minute
Rep. Larry Smith
campaigning before the November
election.
A number of Jewish legislators
who will be retiring—voluntarily
Rep. Stephen Solarz
or involuntarily—said tearful fare-
wells to their staffs as they headed
back home, including Rep. Larry
Smith (D-Fla.), Rep. Mel Levine
(D-Calif.) and Rep. Stephen Solarz
(D-N.Y.).
Jewish activists representing a
number of major organizations
were still grumbling about the fail-
ure of Congress to take up the Re-
ligious Freedom Restoration Act,
victim of this year’s epidemic of
election yearjitters. And once again,
the Brady Bill, which would re-
quire a waiting period before the
purchase of a handgun, was shot
down by pro-gun interests. Most
Jewish groups had worked on be-
half of the measure.
But Jewish activists were happy
with one aspect of the last-minute
congressional rush.
For a change, Congress suc-
ceeded in passing areal foreign aid
bill—not just a “continuing resolu-
tion” that would allow aid pro-
grams to continue without forcing
legislators into the odious position
of actually VOTING on aid.
And that fact could prove helpful
next year, when foreign aid will be
under even more budgetary pres-
sure as a new Congress and either a
new or a rejuvenated president try
to get a handle on the budget defi-
cit.
“This was a very good sign for
foreign aid, and for aid to Israel,”
said a congressional staffer who
spent many hours working on the
bill in the last few weeks. “It indi-
cates that perhaps foreign aid is
becoming a little less politicized
than it seemed to be earlier in the
year, when we were worried that
aid would be a major issue in the
presidential campaigns.”
Several Jewish activists credited
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), who
has occasionally butted heads with
pro-Israel forces, for engineering a
House bill that would be easier for
legislators to swallow, and maneu-
vering the bill around this year’s
political shoals.
Jewish Clinton-Gore Bus Tour:
Bus tours are very chic in this
presidential election year, thanks
Gov. Bill Clinton
to the post-convention excursion
by Gov. Bill Clinton and Sen. Albert
Gore, the Democratic nominees.
So why not use a whirlwind bus
tour to whip up support for the
By James David Besser
Clinton-Gore ticket among Jewish
college students?
Sen. Al Gore
That was the scheme conceived
by Michael Granoff, a graduate of
Tufts University.
Granoff was convinced that Jew-
ish college students represent a tre-
mendous untapped source of votes
for the Democrats. And somehow
he sold the Clinton-Gore campaign
team on the idea.
Granoff worked closely with the
campaign’s Jewish outreach staff
to put together a dizzying blitz of
campuses across the Northeast ear-
lier this month.
Granoff focused mostly on do-
mestic issues in his campus meet-
ings—and, he said, the Jewish col-
lege kids were in the mood to lis-
ten.
“As young people, we have had
twelve years of Republican bor-
rowing—which our generation and
our children will have to pay back,”
he said. “The message of the Clin-
ton-Gore campaign is that we have
to start paying our bills now.”
Jewish young people, he said,
are alsoconcemed abouttheGOP’s
position on crucial church-state is-
sues.
“Under George Bush, we’ve seen
the appointment of justices who
threaten the separation of church
and state,” he said. “As a religious
minority, this is very threatening to
us.”
Granoff visited seventeen cam-
puses in four days, and met with
hundreds of young Jewish voters.
“What I found was a tremendous
receptivity to this campaign,” he
said. “And they were very recep-
tive to the idea that Gov. Clinton is
not just a better alternative; he is a
very strong candidate who can stand
on his own merits.”
New Religious Freedom Strat-
egy in the Works?
Disappointed supporters of the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
(RFRA) spent much of last week
planning their next moves after the
bill failed to see the light of day in
the waning moments of the 102nd
Congress.
Despite an all-out effort by Jew-
ish groups ranging from the Union
of American Hebrew Congrega-
tions and the American Jewish
Committee to Agudath Israel of
America, the bill failed to over-
come a lobbying blitz by Catholic
activists, who contended that the
measure would promote abortion.
And even though the bill was
backed by a coalition that included
Jewish groups, civil rights organi-
zations and representatives of a
wide range of religious organiza-
tions, including Evangelical Chris-
tians, the taint of the abortion con-
troversy kept even some friendly
legislators from pushing hard for
the measure.
Some Jewish activists are sug-
gesting that the religious liberties
coalition take a different tack next
year.
“Until now, the coalition has fo-
cused mostly on the national level,”
said Aron Raskas, an Orthodox
activist in Baltimore who helped
mobilize grass-roots support for the
measure. “Butnow, with whathap-
pened in Congress, we may have to
turn our attention to the states and
try to pass similar legislation on a
state-by-state basis.”
With a record turnover in Con-
gress almost guaranteed in Janu-
ary, pro-RFRA activists will have
a major educational task on their
hands when the new Congress con-
venes—a process that will take
many months.
Butlastweek, the coalition back-
ing the measure met in Washington
and decided to continue pressing
for a single federal bill.
“The decision was made that
fighting this on a state-by-state ba-
sis would be too expensive and too
difficult,” said one participant.
“And itjust means we’dbe fighting
the Catholics in fifty states, notjust
on Capitol Hill.”
Feingold Continues Surge:
Russ Feingold’s advisers are try-
see WASH WATCH p. 6
Texas Jewish Post
Editorand Publisher J.A.Wisch Since 1947 Food /Home Susan Wisch
Managing Editor & Co-Publisher Rene Wisch Adv. Representatives Judy Wisch, Wylma Hooker
Assistant Editor Sharon Wisch-Ray Robert Brimm, Sharon Wisch-Ray
Consultant Steve Wisch Layout Angie Englert
Social Editor Linda Davidsohn Photography Sharon Wisch-Ray & Judy Wisch
Typography Stan Cumberledge Circulation Director Angie Englert
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1992, newspaper, October 15, 1992; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754323/m1/4/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .