[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 2 (Thursday, January 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E38]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   COMMEMORATION IN ISRAEL MARKS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JACKSON-
                            VANIK AMENDMENT

                                 ______


                          HON. NORMAN D. DICKS

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the 
Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade bill of 1974. The amendment made 
history by linking most favored nation trading status to free 
emigration from nonmarket economies. The purpose of the amendment was 
to spur the former Soviet Union to ease emigration for Soviet Jews 
during the cold war. The Jackson-Vanik amendment was instrumental in 
allowing hundreds of thousands of Jews and other Soviet citizens to 
leave the U.S.S.R. to experience the freedom and security of life in 
Israel and the United States.
  The Henry M. Jackson Foundation, in conjunction with the American 
Enterprise Institute, Hebrew University, the Zionist Forum, and the 
Jerusalem Post, is sponsoring a conference in Jerusalem this week, on 
January 8-10, 1995, to commemorate the anniversary of this legislation. 
The Boeing Corp. and Manro Haydan Trading of London are founding 
corporate sponsors. The conference will pay special tribute to Senator 
Henry M. ``Scoop'' Jackson, recognizing his lifelong work on human 
rights and his successful efforts to secure the right of emigration 
throughout the Eastern bloc. Human rights veterans such as Natan 
Sharansky and Elena Bonner, widow of Nobel Laureate Andred Sakharov, 
will join Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Likud Chairman Benjamin 
Netanyahu, and other major political figures at this international 
event. Sessions at the conference will address the historical and 
contemporary significance of the amendment and assess the current 
status of Russian Jews in the former Soviet Union.
  I hope that my colleagues will mark this important anniversary as a 
reminder of our former colleague, Senator Scoop Jackson, and his vital 
role two decades ago in helping to secure human rights and freedom for 
thousands of citizens trapped behind the Iron Curtain.


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