Jewish Groups Welcome Decision by Bush to Waive Jackson-vanik

American Jewish organizations have welcomed President Bush’s decision to recommend a one-year waiver f longstanding restrictions on commercial dealings with the Soviet Union, in recognition of the steady flow of emigration from the country.

Bush’s action Monday in effect extends a decision he made last December to temporarily waive sanctions contained in the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

The amendment, named for the late Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-Wash.) and former Rep. Charles Vanik (D-Ohio), links U.S. trade benefits to Soviet emigration reform.

The president made the move last December to enable the Soviet Union to obtain $1 billion worth of U.S. credits for the purchase of wheat and other American agricultural products.

The Soviets are now seeking $1.5 billion more of such credits. But Bush’s decision Monday does not guarantee that Moscow will get them.

Nor does it guarantee that the president will extend most-favored-nation trade status to the Soviet Union, which Jackson-Vanik bars until Moscow allows free emigration.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said no decision has yet been made on MFN, which would allow the Soviets to export products to the United States at the lowest tariff rate.

He said a decision also has not been made on when to ask Congress to ratify the trade agreement Bush signed in Washington a year ago with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Bush said at the time that he would not ask for ratification until the Soviet legislature adopted an emigration reform bill.

The Supreme Soviet passed an emigration bill last month, but many of its provisions will not be implemented until January 1993.

EMIGRATION CONCERNS REMAIN

But one Jewish official said he expected Bush to ask for ratification and approve MFN status for the Soviets within the next two weeks.

In recommending a Jackson-Vanik waiver to Congress, Bush argued that such a move would promote the objective of the amendment: to encourage free emigration, Fitzwater said in a statement.

“The president made the decision in view of the fact that the Soviet government substantially reduced barriers to emigration for Soviet citizens,” Fitzwater said.

“Numbers of Soviets emigrating rose from 2,000 in 1986 to over 370,000 in 1990. The administration believes that this positive trend will continue,” he said.

The National Conference on Soviet Jewry expressed “satisfaction” with Bush’s action “in light of the emigration of more than 300,000 Soviet Jews since June 1989, when the NCSJ first expressed support for such a waiver.”

The group cited the increased emigration last Thursday in expressing support for a waiver.

But Mark Levin, the organization’s associate executive director, said Monday that at the same time, “we must voice our concern ,over inadequacies in Soviet emigration practices, including the denial of visas to long-term ‘secrecy’ refuseniks and ‘poor relatives,’ as well as over new refusals imposed on individuals on grounds of ‘secrecy.’ “

The National Conference also expressed concern over “difficulties which have arisen recently in the processing of emigration applications to the United States.”

This slowdown in the processing of applicants means that the 40,000 places held for Soviet Jewish refugees coming to the United States will not all be used by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

‘NO TRIUMPH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS’

As it did last December, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews said Monday that it did not oppose granting the one-year waiver on humanitarian grounds.

But the group urged Bush not to grant most-favored-nation trade benefits or submit the trade agreement to Congress, because it does not believe the new emigration law is adequate.

“The law that was passed is no triumph for human rights, and runs contrary to international standards of free movement and reunification of families,” said Pamela Cohen, UCSJ president.

“It simply formalizes the arbitrary bureaucratic practices that governed the emigration practice during the period of stagnation,” she said, referring to the pre-Gorbachev are.

Cohen argued that by continuing to withhold MFN, at least until the law goes into effect, Bush can encourage Gorbachev “to take the lead in implementing democratic emigration reform.”

But David Harris, executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee, welcomed the president’s decision without qualification.

He argued that since the waiver is only good through June 1992, “there will be time to monitor ongoing Soviet performance and continue to seek to ensure that any remaining restrictions on free emigration by Soviet authorities have been ended.”

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said that “as long as the flow of Jews continues virtually unimpeded, we believe granting credits to the USSR is in accordance with the spirit and intent of the U.S. law.”