Speech #990221729

Inasmuch as the Senate has not proceeded to prepare a companion piece. the significance of the vote that we register on this issue in the House is simply to communicate a message. It is an expression of indignation on the part of Members of the House of Representatives over the failure of the Government of Romania to live up to the criteria of JacksonVanik and to live up to any standards of decency with respect to observance of human rights. The JacksonVanik legislation requires that a country will not be granted MFN if: First. it denies its citizens the right or opportunity to emigrate. Second. it imposes more than a nominal tax on emigration or on the visas or other documents required for emigration. for any purpose or cause. Third. it imposes more than a nominal tax. levy. fine. fee. or other charge on any citizens as a consequence of the desires of such citizen to emigrate to the country of his choice. First. on November 1. 1983. the Romanian Government announced the imposition of an emigration tax. The tax required any prospective emigrant to reimburse his government in hard Western currency for the full cost of his or her education above the secondary level. The levies include $2.000 for minorsI am quoting American dollar figures6.400 for university students. $8.000 for skilled laborers. $16.000 for engineers. and $20.000 for physicians. Since Romanian citizens are prohibited by law from possessing Western currency. though. the likelihood of wouldbe emigrants being able to pay the tax is very remote. Second. former Gen. Ion Pacepa. the defector who had previously served as President Ceausescus personal hit man. supervising assassination efforts. and in addition to that the equivalent of the head of their KGB. reported in the Washingtonian: Over the years. many hundreds of millions of dollars were secretly paid to Romania. along with lowinterest credits issued through the DIEWhich is in effect their KGBas bonuses for increasing the emigration quotas. For reasons of secrecy. most of the payments were made in cash and only in U.S. dollars. No other member of the Romanian government knew anything about them except the Prime Minister. who was given only a general briefing and instructed that if the matter even came up. he should vehemently deny any suggestion that Jews and Germans were being sold. During the hearings that we had on this legislation to overturn the waiver of the ban on MFN to Romania. we had substantiating testimony from those people representing the communities in question as to reasons why Jewish emigration was permitted and emigration to West Germany was permitted. It was because the Romanian Government had this behind the scenes deal of putting a levy on the head of any Romanian citizen who wanted to get out. who was either of Jewish nationality or otherwise. In addition to this. there are Romanians awaiting U.S. visas or refugee documents. according to the Finance Committee trade staff report to us. who have faced severe sanctions. They wait for several years. during which time they repeatedly pay to renew exit visas. namely. every 3 months. or passports every 6 months. Once granted emigration permits. they must divest themselves of all real property at confiscatory stateset rates. and then rent what they previously owned until they leave. They are routinely fired from their jobs. They become stateless individuals with no access to social services. including schooling for their children.