[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 140 (Friday, September 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              MOST FAVORED NATION TRADE STATUS FOR RUSSIA

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                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 30, 1994

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, President Clinton has announced that Russia 
is in compliance with pertinent sections of the Trade Act of 1974, and 
that the United States will extend most-favored-nation [MFN] trade 
status to Russia without the previously required annual review. As 
required by title IV of the Trade Act, however, the President will 
continue to provide Congress with periodic reports regarding Russia's 
compliance with the emigration standards envisioned in the Trade Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I view this change in United States trade policy with 
Russia as a positive step, one that recognizes the progress that Russia 
has made in allowing its citizens to emigrate and travel abroad.
  In June 1993, I testified before the Ways and Means Committee on 
behalf of myself and Senator DeConcini as cochairman of the Commission 
on Security and Cooperation in Europe that with respect to Russia, the 
United States should grant MFN with a yearly renewable waiver, which up 
until now has been the policy. Since that time, the mechanism 
established by the Russian Government to resolve secrecy denials, 
adjucation by the Lavrov Committee of the Foreign Ministry, has been 
working well. Over 100 refusals have been overturned by the Lavrov 
Committee.
  Meanwhile, Russian courts are beginning to hear the so-called poor 
relatives cases, in which a potential emigrant is prevented from 
leaving by financial claims of a relative.
  Altogether, approximately 100,000 Soviet Jews and others are leaving 
Russia yearly, most for Israel, but also to the United States and other 
countries.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not want to conclude my remarks by giving the 
impression that emigration from Russia is totally unhindered. This is 
still not the case, unfortunately. While I was in St. Petersburg last 
spring with the majority leader, I had several meetings with human 
rights activists. I met Mrs. Evgeniya Kunina, who had been told that 
she would not be able to leave Russia to join her son in New York until 
1999 because of her previous employment at a classified facility. The 
Lavrov Committee recently ruled that she would have to wait until 1996, 
the 5 years required by Russian law after leaving her job in 1991. 
While this is a step forward--insofar as the law is being followed--the 
fact is that free emigration does not yet exist. And this is why the 
Congress will be closely examining the President's periodic reports on 
Russia's compliance with the Trade Act.

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