Speech #930020062

I am proud that they have turned to America and I am prouder still that America has taken up their cause. The amendment we are sponsoring is a simple one. Under its provisions. the granting of mostfavorednation treatment and the extension of credits or credit guarantees or investment guaran. tees are contingent on a report from the President to the Congress that the country in question does not deny its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate. and does not inhibit free emigration by imposing the payment of more than nominal taxes. fees. fines. or other charges. This report. which lies at the heart of our amendment. would be required at semiannual intervals for so long as the trade benefits in question were made available. It is this provision that would give the Congress the essential assurance of continuing compliance with the free emigration requirement. It is our fervent hope that by the time our amendment is enacted into law the practice in the Soviet Union will be such as to permit the President without hesitation to make the report of compliance. It is important that one point be clearly understood: the Soviet Union can comply with the free emigration provision without altering its laws or statutes. There have been repeated Soviet statements to the effect that free emigration from the Soviet Union is not contrary to Soviet law. Unhappily. what is permitted by law has not been allowed in practice. and despite a Soviet propaganda campaign to the contrary. there is not now anything approaching the right of free emigration from the Soviet Union or the Communist bloc states under Soviet control. Indeed. current Soviet practice has involved the most extreme harassment of persons applying to emigratedismissal from their jobs. withdrawal of pensions. interviews with the KGB. arrests and imprisonment. Even the education ransom. so reminiscent of the infamous Nazi effort to trade lives for trucks during World War II. can be waived. according to the Soviets own policy declarations. when the Soviet authorities choose to do so. It can be waived. for example. in cases where the applicant cannot afford to pay the taxand what Soviet citizen with an income of 150 or 200 rubles a month can be expected to pay 15.000 or 20.000 rubles to obtain an exit visa? Mr. President. this is not the place to discuss at length what has been going on inside the Soviet Unionthe massive effort to intimidate brave Russlafi citizensJew and Gentile alikefrom applying for exit visas. or the devices. delays. denials. and wholly unmanageable taxes designed to prevent those who do apply from getting out. The reports are too many to deny. the accounts too widespread to dismiss. No one who lived through the 1930s and 1940s could stand by today. or plead ignorance. or accept Soviet dissembling in the face of what we know is going on. The Soviets have gone to some length to convey the impression that the question of free emigration is simply a Jewish issue. Their representatives. even as guests in this country. have resorted to the cruel incitement of antiSemitic sentiments in an effort to scare off support for our amendment. Their broadcasts out of Moscow. their Englishlanguage publications intended for consumption here and their diplomatic representations have been pressed into service for this most odious purpose.