[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H7537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPPORT ROMANIA MFN

  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, today we have a change in a bipartisan 
fashion to do something together on foreign policy. We should grant MFN 
to Romania. What we are doing is just extending parity. This is no 
special treatment. We did it under Ceausescu, the dictator. We should 
do it now under a burgeoning democracy. Romania is a burgeoning 
democracy. It has made progress since the revolution of 1989 on human 
rights, the rule of law and a free market. Romania has been a loyal 
ally in recent foreign policy initiatives including sending troops to 
Bosnia, peacekeeping in Angola, large contingent in the U.S. training 
under the IMET program and an impressive record of support in the 
United Nations. Two out of our last three Ambassadors on a bipartisan 
basis have supported MFN to Romania.
  Mr. Speaker, Romanians are looking to the United States a the primary 
source of business opportunities to foster the development of their 
economy. They have met the legal criteria for MFN, free immigration of 
its citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, let us do something in a responsible bipartisan fashion.

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