Tuesday July 11 7:23 PM ET
Lazio Courts Jews With Syria Bill
By Shannon McCaffrey, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate candidate Rick Lazio, eager to score points with
New York's critical Jewish voters, gained House passage Tuesday for a bill
designed to ease the way for Jews fleeing persecution in Syria and seeking to
become U.S. citizens.
Democrats complained that Lazio, a Republican facing Hillary Rodham
Clinton in New York's Senate race, hijacked the bill from freshman
Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose district in south Brooklyn is home to many
of the 2,700 Syrian Jews who have emigrated to the United States.
``It's a lesson in senatorial politics for me, but at the end of the
day, no blood, no foul,'' said Weiner, a Democrat. ``I'm just happy
it passed.''
Weiner had tried in May to get the bill attached to legislation
authorizing more visas for high-tech workers. Republican leaders
rejected his amendment but said they would find a way to pass the
bill. That happened when Lazio introduced his bill in June.
Weiner called Lazio's support ``belated,'' but said that without it
the bill likely would have died.
The Lazio camp noted he allowed Weiner and other Democrats to remain
co-sponsors of the bill.
``This demonstrates Rick Lazio's legislative style, which is to reach
out across the aisle and do things in a bipartisan way,'' Lazio
spokesman Bryan Flood said.
The bill would require the attorney general to adjust the status of
Syrian Jews from asylum-seekers to permanent residents, which would
allow them to travel more freely, work in their chosen professions
and more quickly seek to become U.S. citizens.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
Since entering the Senate race, Lazio also has signed on as a co-sponsor
to a resolution by Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., to free Jews being held
in Iran.
The Jewish vote is considered crucial to any statewide race in New York.
Lazio's campaign has just hired Jonathan Greenspan, Gov. George Pataki's
top adviser on Jewish affairs, in part to help him make inroads with
Jewish voters.
