Speech #930162402

I think. that this fact has been overshadowedboth in this debate and in the bills attention around the Nationby the emphasis given to the socalled Vanik amendment and the principles of human rights which. rightly or wrongly. it has come to symbolize. Actually. there were two Vanik amendmentsand I have had my troubles with both of them. One specified that mostfavorednation trading status was not to be granted to any nation which directly denied its citizens the right to emigrate. or attempted to do so indirectly by levying head taxes or exorbitant exit taxes. This language was. for better or worse. included in H.R. 10710 by the Ways and Means Committee--over the objections of the Presidentand will apparently stay in title IV of the bill. But there is also a second Vanik amendment which seeks to build on the intent of the aforementioned language as already in the bill. It would do so by further denying any investment credits or guarantees to nations practicing similarly repressive emigration policies. This is the amendment we will vote on. today. and though I have comparable reservations about it. I have learned from months of extended and often emotional discussion with my constituents that a Member of Congress can only stand on one principle at a time.