Jewish groups respond to Supercommittee

By JTA-Washington

article created on: 2011-12-01T00:00:00

Several U.S. Jewish groups lamented the congressional supercommittee’s failure to achieve a deficit-reduction agreement, but expressed relief over outcomes they had feared being at least temporarily averted.

The Jewish Federations of North America, B’nai B’rith International and the National Council of Jewish Women each expressed disappointment in the decision of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to disband without achieving agreement, but they noted that the alternative might have been worse, albeit for different reasons.

JFNA expressed relief that a deduction for charitable institutions remained in place; Democrats had proposed reducing it from 35 percent to 28 percent for those earning more than $200,000 a year.

B’nai B’rith was thankful that cuts to assistance for the elderly were avoided, but it urged Congress to work toward a deal to avoid automatic cuts pending for health subsidies through Medicare.

NCJW said no deal was better than a deal that would have incorporated cuts to safety net programs.