Jewish Groups in Washington Hall Senate Passage of Liberalized Dp Bill

Jewish groups here today expressed satisfaction with the liberalized displaced persons bill which the Senate passed last night by a vote of 58 to 15, after defeating all important attempts to retain provisions of the law which have been criticized as restrictive and discriminatory, or to add new ones.

Jewish leaders believe that the bill, as now passed by the Senate, is the best possible DP legislation under the circumstances. The present DP immigration law was condemned by President Truman as discriminatory to Jews and Catholics. Passage of this liberalized bill last night is considered here a victory for the Truman Administration. It is taken for granted the Senate version of the bill will be accepted without change by the House.

The new measure, named for Senator Harley M. Kilgore, Democrat, of West Virginia, and patterned closely after a bill passed by the House last year, provides these major changes in the existing DP law.

1. Extends the DP program for one year beyond the present expiration date, June 30, and raises the number of displaced persons to be admitted under the program to 344,000, including 20,000 DP orphans. The House bill sets this figure at 339,000.

2. Opens the way for admission of 54,744 additional ethnic Germans expelled from Eastern Europe, but provides they must be cared for outside the DP program.

3. Eliminates the “quota” restrictions under which 40 percent of all displaced persons had to be from Baltic countries and 30 percent farmers. These provisions gave rise to the charges that the present law discriminated against Jews and Catholics.

4. Advances the cut-off date for determining the eligibility of displaced persons from Dec. 22, 1945, to Jan. 1, 1949. This change would permit many refugees from Eastern European countries to be admitted.