Joint Action Committee
for Political Affairs

HISTORY AND MISSION
JAC was founded after the 1980 election when many friends of Israel in the Congress were defeated by an emerging force in American politics: Radical Right political groups that opposed Israel and the values of mainstream American Jewry. Concerned Jewish activists reached out to their networks across the country to spread the message that they could support Israel, fight the Radical Right and become a positive force in the political process. In the decades that followed, JAC remained committed to the US-Israel relationship as its core issue, while defending social policies consistent with the priorities of the American Jewish community, principally reproductive rights and separation of religion and state. With so many Jewish organizations advancing the goal of US support for Israel, JAC was the first and for many years the only bipartisan group to blend its support for the US-Israel relationship with a commitment to a progressive social agenda.

ORGANIZATION
JAC is comprised of three organizations that engage in the political process from a Jewish perspective.

Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs is a bipartisan political action committee (PAC)  committed to the special relationship between the US and Israel and a social agenda that includes reproductive choice and separation of religion and state. JAC supports US Senate and House candidates who uphold this agenda and maintains an ongoing dialogue with those it helps elect. In addition, JAC serves as a political resource for the Jewish community, furnishing information about candidates, elections and issues. Click here for detailed information about membership and candidate support.

Joint Action Committee is a nonpartisan advocacy group (501c4) that promotes the United States-Israel relationship, reproductive freedom, separation of religion and state, and social policies in keeping with the core values of the American Jewish community. To promote this agenda, JAC enlists Jewish community participation in advocacy with elected officials; this includes trips to Washington, DC that feature legislative briefings by high-level experts and private meetings with members of Congress.

The JAC Education Foundation, a tax exempt organization (501c3), exists to educate and engage the Jewish community in electoral politics and issues of Jewish concern. The Foundation publishes the nonpartisan Jewish Community Voter Guide, an educational resource that identifies and explains legislative issues of interest to the Jewish community; it contains an index of the voting records of the entire Congress on these issues and suggestions for advocacy. The Foundation conducts voter registration drives and education sessions.