COLUMN LEFT/ JESSE JACKSON : Get Our Own House in Order : Both parties commit taxpayer money for Israeli housing and Soviet aid. What about America?

You have to hand it to Yitzhak Shamir. Whatever you think of the wisdom of his policies, he is a leader who fights for his country. He has a vision and he pursues it relentlessly, against all odds. His will is reflected in the furious debate that now embroils Washington.

Shamir has put forth a comprehensive housing policy for his people. As part of that, he wants $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees over five years for low-cost housing to help settle Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. (“Loan guarantee” is a euphemism, like “no money down.” The request is packaged as a loan so that it can be granted “off-budget,” but, in all likelihood, future U.S. aid to Israel will be used to cover repayment of the credits.)

Ten billion dollars is not small change, particularly at a time of budgetary paralysis so severe that the Democratic Congress and the Republican President couldn’t agree to offer traditional help to American workers facing extended unemployment in the current recession. Yet the Republican President and the Democratic Congress are committed to the aid package. They argue ferociously on timing and conditions--the Democrats want to do it now; the President wants to wait four months, and possibly to demand a freeze on West Bank settlements.

While conservatives assail a Housing and Urban Development budget that contains $9.3 billion in subsidized housing programs for this nation of 250 million people, they join the bipartisan clamor for $10 billion in guarantees to build affordable housing in Israel, a nation of 4 million people.

The same admiration can be extended to Mikhail Gorbachev, beleaguered leader of what is no longer the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Gorbachev has been discounted, spurned and unseated. His country’s economy is in collapse. The exodus of republics may be followed by a mass exodus. Fears of starvation this winter are not unfounded. Gorbachev clearly fights for the future of his country.

Both the Democratic Congress and the Republican President agree that the Soviet Union should get U.S. assistance--aid, trade, long-term credits, loan guarantees. The President and Congress argue about when and where it should go, and how much it should be, but the commitment to provide public assistance to help rebuild the Soviet Union is already firm.

But is this not strange? Both parties agree to use taxpayers’ money to build affordable housing in Israel, and to help spur the Soviet economy. Yet they make no commitment to rebuild America. The public housing that is endorsed for the Israelis is called wasteful at home. The public investment deemed so necessary for Soviet economic revival is called counterproductive at home. Egypt and Poland have their debts forgiven while Bridgeport, Conn., goes bankrupt.

German and Japanese leaders differ on aid to the Soviet Union. The conservative Helmut Kohl government in Germany has already committed at least $35 billion in aid and credits. The conservative Japanese government has held off, using aid as a lever to regain possession of the Kurile Islands, lost in World War II to the Soviets. Neither country hesitates about investing public capital at home, however. Germany will commit more than a trillion dollars to renovate its newly united eastern provinces. Japan has launched a 10-year, $3-trillion program to rebuild its badly outmoded infrastructure.

Only the United States finds it easier to agree on spending taxpayers’ money abroad than at home. We can no longer afford this luxury. We need leaders who will stand up for this country, who have a vision large enough to correspond to the size of our problems.

Instead we have a President who visits more state capitals abroad than at home. We have conservatives eager to waste billions subsidizing the defense of rich allies against a threat that no longer exists, while opposing investment to jump start our own economy. We have a Congress more responsive to foreign lobbies than to domestic needs.

The United States, as the world’s leading democracy, should play a large global role. Americans don’t like foreign aid much, yet they accept the responsibility of offering a helping hand to friends in need. But for too long we have focused on problems abroad while ignoring them at home. The United States must be strong from the inside out. We have to get our own house in order. Given the current consensus, we’ll have to start by cleaning house in Washington.