Mr. President. last year Israeli officials indicated their interest in securing loan guarantees from the United States Government that would allow them to borrow $10 billion over 5 years at competitive rates from commercial banks. This money was. and is. needed to help provide housing and Jobs for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who wish to leave the former Soviet Union and settle in Israel. The administration asked the Israeli Government to postpone this request until September and it did so even though the dramatic rescue of Ethiopian Jews added to its already enormous immigrant absorption costs. Then the administration asked the Israeli Government to again postpone requestingand Congress was asked to postpone consideringtheseloan guarantees until after the MidEast Peace Conference planned for October. We were told that this further postponement would avoid a clash with Israel over the administrations demand that Israel stop building settlements in the occupied territories as a condition for securing loan guarantees.
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immigrant immigrants