Speech #820230157

In addition to perfecting and conforming changes. the measure. as recommended by the conferees. contains provisions which vary in the following respects from the provisions in either the Senate or the House version of the bill: As passed by the Senate. the bill contained a provision which set minimum standards of good moral character to be applied where that expression is used in the bill. These standards were not included in the House version of the bill. and the conferees agreed to accept the provision as it appeared in the Senate version of the bill. The Senate version of the bill. pursuant to an amendment adopted on the floor of the Senate. removed the 10percent limitation which exists under the present law on the issuance of quota visas during the last 2 months of any fiscal year. The bill as passed by the House did not contain a similar provision. and the conferees agreed to accept the Senate provision. Another instance where the conferees were able to reconcile a difference between the Senate and House versions of the bill is in connection with the special provisions relating to the quotas for Asiatics. The House version of the bill contained a provision whereby persons of oriental stock who are the spouses or children of certain aliens may have their quota charged in such a manner as to preclude the separation of families. The Senate version of the bill did not contain this provision. The conferees agreed to accept a modified version of the House provision whereby. in the case of interracial marriages. children may be charged to the quota of either parent in order to keep the family intact. Mr. President. another example of the effective work of the conference committee is the rewriting of the provisions cf the bill relating to the deportation of aliens who are convicted. In the United States. of certain criminal offenses. Both versions of the bill provided for the deportation of such aliens. but. unfortunately. the language of the Senate version of the bill in particular has been subjected to a misconstruction. distorting the true purpose of these provisions. In composing the differences between the Senate and House versions. the conferees have refined the language. so as to make it emphatically clear that the Attorney General may notas has been erroneously chargedcapriciously deport an alien solely on the basis of an inconsequential. unwitting infraction of the law. The conference committee accepted the Senate amendment which exempts certain relatives of citizens and lawfully admitted alien residents from the literacy requirements for admission into the United States.