Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 28, 2006 Page: 4 of 24
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Texas Jewish Post
In Our 60th Year
December 28,2006
Washington Watch
New immigration battle
shaping up
One of the most divisive issues of
the last Congress is set to return
after the new one convenes next
week: immigration reform.
In the Senate, there are early hints
of a new bipartisan move to press
for comprehensive reform that
would provide a clear path to citi-
zenship for many of the 12 million
illegal immigrants already
in this country, an
approach favored by major
Jewish groups.
But the House remains
a formidable obstacle, and
the window of political
opportunity is narrow;
Jewish leaders say it’s only a
matter of months before ||_
partisan politics once again
turns what should be a serious
debate into a political shouting
match.
“The only way this is going to
happen is if it’s done in a bipartisan
way," said Richard Foltin, legislative
director for the American Jewish
Committee, an active supporter of
comprehensive immigration
reform. “And time is short; if we
don’t seize this opportunity, I don’t
know when genuine reform will
happen”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) are
working on an updated version of
the immigration measure passed by
the Senate in the last session, but
rejected by the House, which passed
a harshly punitive bill that focused
almost exclusively on enforcement.
77ie New York Times reported
this week that the legislators are
considering barring tunding for
part of the 700-mile fence along the
Mexican border approved by Con-
gress late this year.
There are also reports McCain
and Kennedy may revise their pre-
vious bill to ease some
requirements for illegal immigrants
seeking citizenship.
Foltin said that while the legisla
tion is still in the drafting phase,
there are encouraging signs in the
Senate, but conceded it will be
tougher going in the House.
“There are supporters of the kind
of immigration reform we favor in
the House, but the political
dynamics are much more uncertain
there,” he said.
The House is also home to two ol
the politicians who have been most
vociferous in opposing a path for
citizenship for illegal immigrants:
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-VVis.),
the outgoing Judiciary Committee
chair and key sponsor of the tough,
enforcement-only bill passed by the
House in the 109th Congress; and
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who
is running for the 2008 Republican
presidential nomination on an anti-
illegal-immigration platform.
And it is still not clear whether
the incoming House Democratic
leadership will make immigration
reform a top priority in the early
part of the session.
By James D. Besser
Congressman slams
Muslims, immigration
Anti-immigrant fervor
has also surfaced in the
controversy over Keith
Ellison, a Democrat about
to be sworn in as the first-
ever Muslim in the U.S.
House.
Earlier in the month, Ellison was
criticized by conservative commen-
tator Dennis Prager for planning to
bring a Koran to his swearing-in
next week.
Last week Rep. Virgil Goode Jr.
(R-Va.) agreed with Prager. In a
letter to constituents, he warned that
Ellison might just be the beginning
of a Muslim tide washing over Con-
gress.
Goode warned that “in the next
century we will have many more
Muslims in the United States if we
do not adopt the strict immigration
policies that I believe are necessary
to preserve the values and beliefs
traditional to the United States of
America and to prevent our
resources from being swamped.”
Only one problem: Ellison was
born in Detroit. He is an African
American who converted to Islam
while in college.
The outburst led the Washington
Post, in an editorial, to say that
Goode must have made it “in a state
of xenophobic delirium."
Jewish groups weren’t much hap-
pier with the lawmaker’s views.
In a letter to Goode, Rabbi David
Saperstein, director of the Religious
Action Center of Reform Judaism,
said his comments represent a “reli-
gious test for office’’ and reflect “a
fundamental lack of understanding
of our nation’s status as a beacon of
religious liberty and the Constitu-
tion’s ban on such religious tests."
He said the lawmaker’s statement
“also conflates issues of immigra
tion and religion in an unhelpful
manner that only inflames
ethnic/religious stereotypes and
appeals to the basest of instincts.”
Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive
director of the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs (JCPA), said his group
was “appalled by Rep. Virgil Goode’s
bigoted rhetoric and clear intoler-
ance toward both immigrants and
members of the Muslim-American
community."
Gutow also took a swipe at
Prager, and said the JCPA stands
“wholeheartedly behind Mr.
Ellison’s decision to use the book of
his faith as he takes his oath to
become a United States Representa-
.• _ »
tive.
An official with the Anti-Defama-
tion League said Goode’s comments
were “ill conceived.”
Abraham Fox man, the ADL
national director, said that Goode’s
comments linking anti-Muslim
feeling with immigration should
sound familiar to Jews.
“The immigration issue always is
used to legitimize bigotry,” Foxman
said. “In previous decades, it played
out against the Jews; people who
were anti-Semites talked about
immigration polices, and wanted to
create immigration quotas. Bigots
have always hid behind the immi-
gration issue."
Museum chastises Prager
Meanwhile, the Prager contro-
versy continues to percolate inside
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Council, which oversees the Holo-
caust Museum in downtown
Washington. Prager was appointed
to the council this summer; other
members, led by former New York
Mayor Ed Koch, say his comments
about Ellison and the Koran were
incompatible with the museum’s
mission.
After averting a showdown over
the issue at last week’s council
meeting, leaders of the executive
committee hammered out a state-
ment rejecting Prager’s comments.
The statement cited the
museum’s role as a “living memo-
rial to the victims of the Holocaust
devoted to teaching the lessons of
the Holocaust for the benefit of all
mankind,” and stated that Prager
ft
“has recently publicly expressed
and disseminated certain state-
ments which have been widely
interpreted as being intolerant.”
Therefore, the executive com-
mittee stated, the council
“disassociates itself from Mr.
Prager’s statements as being anti-
thetical to the mission of the
museum as an institution pro-
moting tolerance and respect for
all peoples regardless of their race,
religion or ethnicity.”
A museum source said he hoped
Prager would get the message and
resign — but said he had no indi-
cation the controversial
commentator would do so. Mem-
bers of the council are appointed
by the president, and can only be
removed by the White House.
Jewish lawmakers to
play health care role
Two prominent Jewish law-
makers are hoping Congress will
finally tackle the vexing issue of
health care after it convenes under
Democratic leadership next week.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says
he will introduce the Healthy
Americans Act, which he said will
provide “affordable, high quality,
private health coverage for
everyone regardless of where they
work or live.”
The plan promises coverage for
all Americans “that is at least as
good as members of Congress
receive and can never be taken
away,” he said at a news conference
unveiling the plan.
Under the plan, individuals
would have their choice of health
plans; local Health Help Agencies
(HHAs) would be created to help
beneficiaries navigate the maze of
competing plans.
Also under the plan, there will be
no co-pays for preventive services
or chronic disease management.
Wyden cited this year’s decline in
the proportion of employers pro-
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viding health coverage — 61 per-
cent, down 8 percent from 2000 —
as a reason Congress should act
quickly.
Over on the House side, Rep.
Ben Cardin (D-Md.) — about to
take the Senate seat being vacat
by the retiring Sen. Paul Sarbar
— said in a recent interview that he
would make “universal health cov-
erage” a priority during his first
year.
“More and more members, in
both parties, are talking about uni-
versal coverage, and 1 think it’s
something we can do,” he said. “As
a nation, we pay a heavy price for
the number of people who are not
insured."
Cardin said he also wants Con-
gress to focus on reducing the costs
of prescription drugs by "allowing
the government to negotiate prices.
And we need to deal with long-
term care. The fact is, taxpayers pay
the overwhelming costs for nursing
care, whereas many people would
prefer being in assisted living or
living in the community rather
than nursing facilities.”
James D. Besser, Washington corre-
spondent, jbesscr@cox.net, (703)
978-4724
Texas Jewish Post
Sirur 1947
Jimmy Wisch
Publisher & Editor 1947-2002
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Wisch, Rene & Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 28, 2006, newspaper, December 28, 2006; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755652/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .