President. it is not often a Member of the Senate has the opportunity to come to the floor with truly good news. But I have such news today. The Soviet Government has evidently granted exit visas to a familythe Yakirsand Svetlana Braunone of the dozens of the socalled divided spouses separated from their partners who live overseas. Over the years I have had some personal involvement with both these cases. The Yakir family was adopted by Temple BNai Jehudah in Kansas City. The congregation has supported the Yakirs. with its unwavering faith and commitment to gain the familys release. Last spring. a delegation from the congregation led by Rabbi Mark Levin visited me here in Washington and we called the Yakir family in Moscow. I told Yevgeny Yakir. who first applied for an exit visa 14 years ago. that we would continue to press the Soviet Government to live up to the principles of "glasnost" by granting exit visas to his family. among others. And several years ago I met Keith Braun. a young lawyer from Michigan. who married Svetlana in the Soviet Union in 1984. Since then. the couple has been forced to live apart because the Soviet Government would not grant her an exit visa. Keith has campaigned relentlesslynot only for his wife. but for the many couples who find themselves in this same unfortunate and irrational position. Now it appears that both these cases will come to a happy conclusion. The Soviet news agency Tass reported yesterday that the Yakir family and Svetlana Braun would be allowed to emigrate. This is long awaited and wonderful news. and yet another indication that the Soviet Government is responsive to our efforts to press the human rights issue. But the news is bittersweet. While we all give thanks for the increase in exit visas granted in recent months. literally hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizenshundreds of thousands of Yakirs and scores of Svetlana Braunswho would emigrate tomorrow if the Government would grant them permissionremain behind. Providing exit visas in dribbleswhile a welcomed improvementdoes not address the real problem. There needs to be fundamental reform in the Soviets emigration policyreform that is not punitive and lives up to the Soviets commitment to human rights as a signator of the Helsinki final accords. The Soviets are moving in the right direction. I only hope that they finish the course.
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