Washington Wire
February, 2005 Vol. 7, No. 1

President Bush has been sworn in to his second term, the 109th Congress has reconvened and the OU/IPA is working intensively to promote and represent the interests of the Orthodox Jewish community in the public policy arena.

PRIORITY ISSUES

Religious Liberty - ‘WRFA’: The Workplace Religious Freedom Act, sponsored in the last congress by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and John Kerry (D-MA) remains a top priority on our policy agenda. We are working towards having this critical legislation reintroduced within the next few weeks and, finally, passed in this congress. We have made important progress toward that goal by securing Sen. Santorum’s commitment to the issue once again and, significantly, having a senior member of the House – Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) -- recruited to lead our efforts in that chamber. For Federal Workers: In January, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the entity which sets work rules and policy for federal civilian workers, announced a set of proposed revisions to regulations governing the use of comp. time by federal workers, including its use for religious holiday observance. The proposed revisions may, albeit unintentionally, create difficulties for Orthodox Jews and people of other faith traditions in using comp time for holiday observance. We have communicated our concerns about the proposal to The White House and are preparing to file formal comments on the proposal with a coalition of religious organizations.

Appropriation of Homeland Security Funding Assistance – In the wake of the events of 9/11/01 and subsequent events around the globe, the Jewish community and its institutions have become much more concerned with their physical security and their ability to withstand, God forbid, a terrorist attack. Over the past year, the OU/IPA joined with United Jewish Communities and other concerned groups to develop an initiative under which federal funds would be made available through the Dept. of Homeland Security to assist non-profit institutions – including synagogues and day schools – in improving their physical security. Last year, we succeeded in having legislation for this purpose approved by committees in both the House and Senate and we fought off efforts Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Lautenberg (D-NJ) which would have explicitly excluded synagogues, day schools and other religious nonprofits from participating in this program. http://www.ou.org/public/statements/2004/nate18.htm In the closing days of the 108th Congress, the OU/IPA worked intensively with UJC and allies on Capitol Hill to have the provision of funds for security assistance grants for non-profits inserted into the homeland security appropriations bill and in this we were successful. With the assistance of critical allies including Rep. Eric Cantor, Senators Frist, Specter and Mikulski, $25 million was appropriated specifically for the purpose of assisting nonprofits at risk of terrorist attack. The appropriation and disbursement of these funds compliments the disbursement of grants from a larger pool of federal homeland security grants, administered by state governments, for which, at our behest, the Dept. of Homeland Security has issued guidance that they too may be used to protect at-risk nonprofits. http://www.ou.org/public/Publib/sec-np.htm Since the adoption of this policy guidance and the appropriation, the OU/IPA has continued to work intensively on this critical issue on behalf of our community. * We have issued memos and conducted conference calls with shuls and schools alerting them to the availability of these funds and given them guidance on how to seek security grants. * We have been in touch with officials in key states to press for their distribution of these funds – toward that end, just last week, Gov. Ehrlich distributed more than $1 million in these funds to many shuls and schools in Baltimore (see http://www.ou.org/public/statements/2005/n3.htm.) and we are in conversation with Gov. Pataki’s office regarding how and when these funds will be available in New York.

We are also, of course, beginning work toward having congress appropriate additional funds for this program in next year’s federal budget.

Education – Last year we succeeded in having legislation enacted with the purpose of garnering greater equity for special needs children the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), the federal government’s primary funding program for special education services. Too often, children with special ed. needs who attend religious schools are underserved by this federally funded program. Working with allies in Congress and from other constituency groups, the revised IDEA statute, which President Bush signed in December, 2004 contains provisions which will force local authorities administering IDEA funds to deliver more and better services to our community’s learning disabled children.
See http://www.ou.org/public/publib/speced-idea.htm for more details.

Faith Based Initiative - To our disappointment, the bipartisan proposal known as the CARE Act (a package of tax incentives for increased charitable giving plus a $1.5 billion increase in federal social service grant funding) failed to pass congress last year. We will be supporting efforts to pass this legislation again. We are also working with allies in congress toward having some of the key “faith friendly” policy changes put in place by President Bush via Executive Order codified into federal law. Our first effort on that front is to have codified the policy that a religious building which suffers damage in a natural disaster may not be denied federal disaster funds administered by FEMA solely because of its religious affiliation.

JUDICIAL DOCKET

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next month in cases reviewing two important issues in the realm of religion-state jurisprudence and in which the OU/IPA is participating through amicus curiae briefs. On March 22, the Court will review the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”). The OU/IPA worked intensively with a broad coalition of organizations to have this law enacted in 2000 in the wake of an earlier Supreme Court decision striking down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. RLUIPA contains 2 provisions: one protects houses of worship from common forms of unfair treatment through abuse of zoning and land use rules; the other provides prison inmates with an additional measure of protection for their religious liberties. The Court has accepted a case questioning the constitutionality of RLUIPA’s prisoner provision. The OU/IPA’s brief vigorously defends this statute and was authored by the noted constitutional law professor Douglas Laycock. The brief can be accessed at http://www.ou.org/pdf/5765/LaycockCutterFinal.pdf
Second, the Supreme Court has taken two cases through which it will review the constitutionality of displays of the Ten Commandments on public property – and thereby again review its jurisprudence on religion in the public square in general. Oral arguments will be heard on March 2. The OU/IPA has joined with other Orthodox groups in brief authored by the eminent Nathan Lewin. Please click here for more details.

UPCOMING EVENT – MISSION TO WASHINGTON

The annual Leadership Mission to Washington for OU officers, directors and commission members is being planned for April 6-7, 2005. As in past years, this exciting and important event will include high-level briefings at The White House, a luncheon at the Capitol with senators and visits with other key policymakers. There are also exclusive sessions as part of this invitation-only event. If you have received an invitation, but not yet registered, please do so right away.

TZEITCHEM L’SHALOM

Associate Director Darren Schneider is departing the staff of the OU/IPA for a job opportunity at the National Institutes of Health; we wish Darren well. In the wake of his departure, Mr. Seth Jacobson will fill in as the part time Program Coordinator for the OU/IPA Summer Internship Program.

 

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