Not only a legislative victory but a kiddush Hashem of epic proportions
The Educational Choice for Children Act, or “ECCA” for short, is a federal school choice bill that would create a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for individuals and corporations who donate to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). These SGOs would then distribute scholarships to students, allowing them to attend private schools or access other educational services. Considering how prominently tuition payments feature in frum families’ budgets, the proposed legislation is arguably among the most consequential pieces of legislation to affect American Torah Jewry.
On Friday, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the provision was ineligible to be included in the reconciliation bill. With a vote scheduled for Saturday afternoon, the school choice coalition and supportive lawmakers sprang into action advocating for its re-inclusion. Rabbi Yossie Charner, Agudah’s director of congressional affairs drove down to the Capitol and spent the day knocking on the doors of supportive senators. Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudah’s national director of government affairs, spent the entire day on the phone coordinating and communicating with coalition partners as well as lawmakers and their staffers. As the hours ticked by, the work reached a fever pitch… and then shkiah came.
The school choice coalition, of which the Agudah is an integral member, kept on working through the night. The Catholics continued, Invest in Ed carried on, and the American Federation for Children didn’t stop. But the Orthodox Jews were nowhere to be found. Rabbi Charner had gone home and Rabbi Motzen had powered off his phone. It was Shabbos, and they, together with Klal Yisrael, were giving testimony that Hashem created and runs the world and our efforts are not the determination of outcome.
The single most vital piece of legislation that Agudah has spent literally decades advancing and advocating for was at its most pivotal moment, at the crossroads of success or failure. And the only words on the lips of Agudah employees were “Ki vo shavas mikol melachto asher bara Elokim la’asos….”
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