This is a measure which I strongly support and of which I am a cosponsor. and I was delighted last week when our colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee agreed to include the amendment in the bill. The issue of human rights and freedom must always be paramount in any deliberations by this body. The denial of these rights by the Soviet Union to thousands of its citizens who want to leave that country and emigrate elsewhere must constantly be brought to national attention and our concern must be expressed. The case of Victor Lapidos is typical of the harassment and denial of human rights experienced by so many Jews in the Soviet Union. Victor Lapidos. a doctor of technical sciences who worked in Moscows Automobile Industry Research Institute. applied for an exit visa to Israel in August 1972. and was granted permission to leave the Soviet Union upon payment of a $30.000 exit fee. This is an astronomical amount of money in the Soviet Union and Dr. Lapidos could not hope to accumulate that much. Suddenly. he was told he would not have to pay the fee if he left the U.S.S.R. within 10 days. He and his wife quit their jobs. his 11yearold daughter withdrew from school. and his 19yearold daughter and her husband were expelled from the university. The family was evicted from their apartment and. after the payment of approximately $1.000 for an exit visa for each member of the family. they were told it had all been a mistake and they would not be permitted to leave. Mr. Speaker. we must make the Soviet Union understand the revulsion we feel upon hearing such stories.
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emigrate visa