Speech #930298788

Mr. President. it has often been said that we are a nation of immigrants. Throughout most of our history. we have opened our doors to the peoples of the world and welcomed them to our shores. The world in turn has looked upon the United States as a sanctuary of freedom and opportunity. In recent times. the encouragement of emigration from totalitarian regimes has been a fundamental goal of American foreign policy. We assisted the refugees of wartorn Europe after the Second World War. many of whom came to the United States. We played an important role in the establishment of Israel as a sovereign state for the displaced Jews of Europe. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. we even went so far as to make exceptions to our immigration laws in order to accommodate the thousands of courageous Hungarian freedom fighters who fled the Soviet tanks and bullets of Budapest. When Cuba succumbed to communism in the early 1960s. the United States. under the leadership of the late President Kennedy. brought thousands of Cubans to our land and assisted them in starting a new life. Today thdre are millions more who are held against their will in the captive nations of this world. and many of them have close relatives here in the United States. The problem of reuniting these families is both perplexing and disheartening. But our spirits have recently been lifted by the prospect that under the proposed Trade Reform Act. we might be able to take advantage of the situation by exchanging our advanced technology. our trade. and our credits for a more liberal emigration policy in the Communist countries. As my colleagues will recall. title IV of the Trade Reform Act authorizes the President to enter into bilateral commercial agreements to provide credit or mostfavorednation treatment to countries that are presently denied these trade benefits. Title IV also provides. however. that products exported from any nonmarket economy country are not eligible for credits or MFN treatment. and the President may not make any bilateral agreements with any such country. if that country. according to the President. denies its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate. imposes more than a nominal tax on emigration or visas. or imposes more than a nominal tax. levy. or fine on a citizen as a consequence of his desire to emigrate to the country of his choice. These restrictions on credit extension and MFN treatment are known as the JacksonVanik amendment. which is now embodied in section 402 of the act. In its report of November 26. 1974. the Senate Finance Committee summed up the provisions of section 402 of the Trade Reform Act as follows: It is the Committees understanding that the "Freedom of Emigration" amendment in the bill is intended to encourage free emigration of all peoples from all Communist countries (and not be restricted to any particular ethnic. racial. or religious group from any one country). The Trade Reform Act and the JacksonVanik amendment present a unique opportunity for the United States to use its great commercial strength as leverage against the repressive immigration policies of totalitarian countries. But we now confront the possibility that this opportunity will be lost. On December 2. Senator JACKSON proposed amendment 2000 to the Trade Reform Act. which gives the President temporary authority to waive section 402 for 18 months after he has received assurances that the emigration practices of that country will promote the objectives of section 402. Amendment 2000. in other words. seeks to nullify the restrictions on credit extension and MFN treatment in section 402 in those instances where the President has received assurances that obstacles in the way of emigration would be removed. This newly proposed modification of the JacksonVanik amendment. Mr. President. is based on the belief that the Soviet Union has offered us assurances of a new emigration policy. Since April 1974. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been seeking a clarification of Soviet emigration policies through conversations with Soviet officials. These clarifications have been conveyed to Senators JACKSON. JAVITS. and RIBICOFF. eventually giving rise to an exchange of correspondence which Senator JACKSON published on October 18. All of these communications and discussions created the initial impression that the President and Secretary Kissinger have already received solid assurances from Soviet leaders that free emigration will be allowed. and that we may now embrace amendment 2000 with safety. As a result of Secretary Kissingers candid testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on December 3. 1974. however. it is now clear that we must reexamine title IV of the Trade Reform Act and its accompanying amendments. The understanding that now emerges is wholly contrary to that which was presented to us earlier. In response to probing questions by members of the Senate Finance Committee. Secretary Kissinger has given us a clearer. if not a new. picture of the negotiations that have taken place between American and Soviet officials regarding the issue of immigration. Now we are told that no real agreement has been reached between American and Soviet officials after all. In his statement to the committee. Secretary Kissinger frankly admitted that he would not give "any assurances concerning the precise emigration rate that may result. assuming that the trade bill is passed and MFN is extended to the U.S.S.R." This important revelation was underscored by Senator HARTKE when he asked the Secretary to explain his letter tc Senator JACKSON on page 204 of the committee report. wherein the Secretary statedand these are the Secretarys wordsthat "we have been assured" that certain criteria and practices will henceforth govern emigration from the Soviet Union. "Who." asked Senator HARTKE. "is we?" "We have been assured by whom?" In reply. Secretary Kissinger acknowledged the fact that "the Soviet leaders have not made an assurance. have not made a commitment to the Government of the United States." To be sure. Secretary Kissinger agreed with Senator HARTKES observation that these socalled assurances are nothing more than "descriptions of Soviet domestic practice." and are not "commitments by the Soviet Government to the U.S. Government." What is more. the testimony of Secretary Kissinger indicates that the administration is not even pursuing the general objective of section 402. Conceding the fact that section 402 applies to all citizens of all Communist countries. except Poland and Yugoslavia. which already have MFN status. Secretary Kissinger nevertheless emphasized the fact that there is nothing in the exchange of correspondence between Senator JAcKsoN and Secretary Kissinger which relates to immigration policies of a country such as Hungary. The total thrust of these negotiations between American and Soviet officials has been direct~d toward the problem of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. and not toward the emigration of all citizens from all Communist countries. In the words of Secretary Kissinger. "What we are attempting to achieve (is) increased Jewish emigration." The Secretary again stressed this point in his reply to Senator BYRDS expression of concern about the "freer emigration of all peoples. not just the Jews. but Ukranians. Armenians. Germans.