The Reagan Administration has decided to eliminate financial assistance to Israel for the resettlement there of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, Rep. Jonathan Bingham (D. NY) told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.
According to Bingham, the Administration will rescind half of the $25 million allocated for this purpose for fiscal year 1981 which ends next Sept. 30. This would mean that funding for the program will end on March 31, with the expenditure up to that time of $12.5 million.
“We of course are going to fight it, “Bingham said. He pointed out that even though the number of Jews emigrating from the Soviet Union has declined in the past year due to Soviet restrictions, the fact of the decline is “a greater reason” for continuing the program, since the U.S. should not show the Soviet government “we are losing interest” in its Soviet Jewish emigration policies.
Bingham and former Sen. Edmund Muskie (D.Me.) initiated legislation in 1972 providing for such U.S. assistance to Israel. In the past eight years, from fiscal year 1973 to fiscal year 1981, $251 million has been appropriated of which $239 million will have been provided by next March 31.
An aide to Bingham pointed out that the program has always been a Congressional effort and the legislation for the funding originated in the Congress every year except for the last two years when President Carter included it in his annual budget. However, in his last budget presentation for fiscal year 1982, which begins next Oct. 1, Carter asked only $10 million against the $25 million appropriated for the current fiscal year.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
