The House unexpectedly late today took up the Bingham Bill providing for $85 million to aid in resettling Soviet Jews in Israel and adopted it by a vote of 305-65. The measure sponsored by Jonathan Bingham (D.N.Y.) was an authorization measure. It was adopted without controversy apart from questions raised on the floor.
However, complications for the measure may arise in view of the fact that the appropriations bill to fund the authorization does not contain any sum to be granted for this purpose. Rep. John Rooney (D.N.Y.) observed in presenting the appropriations bill that such refugee legislation is included in the foreign aid legislation rather than in the State Department budget. The Bingham bill is an amendment to the State Department budget and authorizes the Secretary of State to distribute the funds.
A similar bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (D. Me.) has been adopted by the Foreign Relations Committee but has not yet been discussed on the Senate floor.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
